Patience
by SWFicWriters
Summary: Sequel to 'The Generation Gap'. Twelve-year-old Kaden Lightbane has become a padawan to Jedi Master Drex Zaryth. However, the road to knighthood is difficult, and Kaden will face many challenges that his master will guide him through. Warning: This story contains frequent spanking scenes. We do not endorse the spanking of real children. Obviously, this is fiction.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: "Patience" is the third story in our Drex and Kaden saga. The first one is called "A Padawan, a Master and a Matchmaker." The second is called "The Generation Gap." Both can be found in our author profile.

Although it might be a better reading experience if you have read our prequels, it is not critical as each story can stand alone. We'd like to thank all of those who have given us feedback and stayed with us. We hope you're going to enjoy this one as well. Like its prequels, this story emerged from online role-playing, so it involves alternating points of view that we will edit into story format. It contains some coarse language, and many scenes of discipline, including – sometimes severe – spanking of a non-sexual nature, meted out by adults to children. If this bothers you, don't read it. Very simple. We're neither intending this to be parenting advice literature nor a realistic description of childhood; it's fiction, and a type of fiction we happen to enjoy writing and hope some of you enjoy reading.

* * *

"Your hold on your saber is perfect, padawan, but you still need to improve your footing," Drex told Kaden. "If someone attacks you from the back and you need to turn around, you are bound to lose your balance."

They had been working at this particular defensive move for half an hour now, and Drex, as usual, was relentless in his attention to detail. Kaden had been his padawan for three months now. Drex had been relatively easy-going about lightsaber training for a while, wanting to ease the boy into his new life. He had continued to work with him on the forms and moves he already knew, mostly from the Ataru form of lightsaber combat, and had usually rewarded a decent effort at kata or Force work with a period of freestyle sparring. Kaden had been frustrated occasionally at having to do things he considered boring, but he had soon learned that a poor effort would result in forfeiting his freestyle sparring sessions. Since he was not stupid, things had, all in all, gone smoothly.

Recently, though, Drex had decided that Kaden needed to move to a new stage in his training. Drex intended to give him a thorough grounding in the defensive form of Soresu, knowing that, by forcing Kaden to focus on his defences, he would leave the boy little opportunity to give in to his aggressions. And this was of paramount importance since both Kaden's strength in the Force and the amount of aggression he put behind his attacks were formidable. If Drex allowed this to continue, Kaden would have great difficulties ever making it to knighthood.

Thus, Drex had started teaching Kaden Soresu moves a few weeks ago. Initially, he had continued his practice of rewarding an adequate effort, on Kaden's part, with freestyle sparring sessions. He had found, however, that this made it very hard for Kaden to acquire the right mindset for developing his Soresu skills. The boy tended to go through the motions, thinking more of earning his reward than of the actual purpose of the exercise. Kaden also tended to apply the attack-oriented fighting style he opted for whenever given a choice to Soresu practice. As a result, Drex had decided a few days ago to ban him from performing Ataru, whether in their training or in any kind of freestyle sparring session, altogether until further notice – which was to say, until Kaden had mastered Soresu to a certain extent and internalised its philosophy. Despite the fact that Drex had explained his reasoning, this was more than a little frustrating to Kaden. But then, among the many things he would have to learn was how to deal with his frustrations – or that he needed to ask for help if he was unable to do so. And Drex had told him as much several times already.

To say that Kaden was finding this new stage in his training frustrating was an understatement. As Drex had correctly surmised, he had simply been going through the motions to get it over with so they could get to the fun part and spar.

Right now, however, Drex was making Kaden practice a new move, but so far his padawan was making little progress.

"Padawan," Drex said patiently after the next rather unsteady attempt, "this move is about balance, not about your saber. If you execute it well, you will not even need to use your saber, you will move out of your attacker's range. Disengage your saber and try without it."

The ban on performing Ataru had hit the boy hard enough already. To add insult to injury, today Drex was apparently not even letting him use his lightsaber at all! Kade rankled but obeyed, having learned from experience to do anything other only made it worse. "What is the point of practicing a lightsaber form if I can't even use my damn LIGHTSABER!" he ground out, snapping the weapon onto his belt aggressively.

Drex was not impressed with his padawan's reaction.

"You have used your saber for half an hour now, with little success in improving your balance," he pointed out. "Get your aggression under control, or ask for help if you cannot do it on your own. We are not finished here by a long shot."

"Right, and taking it out of the equation altogether is supposed to help? I'm sure that's gonna work great when I take a blaster bolt to the chest. At least my fall to the ground will be executed with perfect balance and precision, but, whoops, I couldn't actually block the thing because I spent all my time learning how to run away from attacks and was never allowed to USE. MY. LIGHTSABER!" By now, Kade's frustration was peaking, and he kicked at the floor with his boot.

Drex did not dignify this outburst with a response. He had given Kaden a chance to work on his aggression, to ask him for help, which was more than someone like Eeth Koth would have done. If Kade did not listen, that was his own problem. Drex calmly and firmly took hold of Kaden's ear and dragged him towards the far side of the training room where benches were lined up along the wall.

"Bare your bottom and put your hands on the bench," he ordered, his voice level and unperturbed. "And keep your protests to yourself, please."

The expression on his master's face was enough to tell Kade that he'd gone too far, and although he'd have taken it back in a split second, had time travel been amongst his talents, it was not, and he could not. The only thing that remained to be done was to do his best to act as if his ear was not burning and stumble to keep his balance whilst being dragged towards the bench.

He did not rub his ear because that would be to admit that it actually hurt, which it had! Sure, Drex wouldn't physically see it, but then again, he managed to 'see' an awful lot for a man who was born blind. Wordlessly, Kade unbuttoned his trousers in clipped, annoyed movements, yanking both to his knees, and reluctantly put his hands on the bench.

Drex made short work of this punishment. He put a hand on Kaden's back, both to keep him in position and to help himself take aim, and gave him a couple of very hard swats to get his attention.

"You do not take your frustrations out on me," he told Kaden, raising his hand and bringing it down again with a resounding _crack_.

That first swat got Kade's attention. Drex's hand was large and hard and, although he knew better, he'd swear the man had picked up a vossball bat. Not that he was going to let on or admit how much it hurt.

"I am doing this to help you learn, and I expect you to make an effort to follow my guidance," Drex continued. Several stinging swats to the under curve of Kaden's bottom underlined this message.

"If you are offered help, you would do well to accept it" – another couple of swats, this time to Kaden's upper thighs, followed – "instead of throwing a tantrum."

With this, Drex picked up the pace, wanting to leave no doubt that Kaden's behaviour had been entirely unacceptable.

Unfortunately for Kaden, his resolve to take his punishment stoically lasted no longer than this. By the time Drex started in on his thighs, the boy was grunting and pushing his hips forward as each blow landed in an effort to lessen the impact. "Alright, alright! You made your point. I'm sorry," he ground out through gritted teeth, and by this stage, the boy really was sorry; he knew better than to lose his shit with his master as it always ended the same way, painfully. Now not only would he endure the lesson, he'd do it with a roasted ass, it was adding injury to insult!

Drex had other plans for the boy, however. He finished the spanking off with a flurry of hard swats, then pulled his padawan into an upright position.

As Drex walloped him those last few times the boy couldn't stop from letting out a yelp. In fact, it took a great deal of restraint not to bolt for the next best fountain and sit in it, but he did not. Instead, he stumbled upright when his master righted him and stared at the floor, his eyes a touch overbright.

Without giving him much time to recover, Drex told him: "As you are unwilling to commit to the move I am trying to teach you, we will stop this for today and continue on muscle-building exercises instead. Tomorrow, we will try again, but your saber stays home. It is only getting in your way. Now, you can start with push-ups. Until I tell you to stop."

He nodded towards the middle of the room, his expression calm, but unyielding.

Kade had been a boy of few words, especially so when he was in uncomfortable circumstances – that was until the Force thrust him into a saber class with Councillor Koth who had brought about events that led him to his blind Hrakian master. Gestures such as smiles, nods and even fearsome scowls all lost effectiveness when the recipient could only sense the mood behind it with varying degrees of precision. As a result, the boy had been forced to start using his words… "Fine," he retorted, and after pulling up his pants, he turned on his heel and strode, somewhat stiff-legged, towards the centre of the room where he dropped to the floor and began. He wasn't happy about this, but nor was he willing to argue.

Kade had not realised just how much work was involved in improving things like strength and endurance. He had always relied on his prowess with a lightsaber to get him out of most situations during sparring, and as a result, he was not quite as fit or strong as most boys his age. This was something that was apparent during exercises like these, and the number one reason why he truly hated doing them.

Drex, on the other hand, had noticed early on that strength and endurance were areas that his padawan badly needed to work on. His natural skill with a saber would not get him far against opponents who were stronger, faster and easily able to outlast him. Here, again, he had taken his time, easing his padawan into his new role. However, he was becoming increasingly serious about this aspect of Kaden's training, much as Kade disliked it. Drex was also paying a lot of attention to maintaining and even improving his own physical condition. The Council had reduced his duties, and he therefore had time for a workout almost every morning when Kaden was in class, which he made use of to the best of his abilities.

He had known from the beginning that there would come a point at which Kaden's wishes would clash dramatically with what Drex needed to impose on him in order to break his bad habits - habits that would ultimately lead him to the Dark Side if allowed to continue unchecked. Therefore, while far from being exhilarated about making his padawan miserable, Drex was entirely confident about the measures he was imposing and did not feel bad about them in the least.

Right now, he was standing by while Kaden struggled through his push-ups, his face impassive and there being no indication that he was going to tell him to stop any time soon.

While Kade did not excel at this sort of exercise, the boy could be tenacious if he had a mind to be, although it was probably more his stubbornness that got him through the first 30 without slowing down. By 45, his arms were burning, by 50 they were trembling with each exertion and by 55 it was taking a tremendous effort to push himself up. His arms shook with the strain, his biceps and abdominals felt as if they had been put through the wringer. He projected his pain and fatigue across their bond in hopes that his master would take pity on him and let him up.

Drex was actually impressed with his padawan's perseverance. Stubbornness could be an advantage, and he was not about to discourage it.

"Alright, padawan, you may get up," he said calmly. "Get a skipping rope from the store room and start skipping."

Kade slumped backwards onto his heels, breathing heavily as he let his forehead thump onto the gym floor. The relief was not immediate, but thankfully, as the strain lessened from his arms and stomach, the pain began to subside. He lay there for several seconds while he digested his master's words. Surely he had to be joking! Alas, if his tone was anything to go by, he wasn't joking... He rolled to his side and reluctantly got to his feet, his muscles burning in protest as he stood and dragged his feet towards the storeroom. He took his time. A minute later he emerged with the rope and started skipping. He hated freaking skipping. It always left him feeling jarred and shell-shocked, as if his body had just been pounded repeatedly by ATAT's.

Drex knew exactly how his padawan felt. He also knew it was necessary to force him to leave his comfort zone where his training was concerned, and with Kaden, that apparently required drastic measures - not that this was much of a surprise to Drex. He continued to run Kaden ragged today, switching from one demanding exercise to the next and never stopping before the boy had reached, or possibly exceeded, his limits. Only when he sensed that Kaden was close to collapsing did he allow him to stop.

By the time Drex was finished with him the boy was slumped forward, his hands on his knees as he attempted to swallow the urge to vomit. Thankfully, his master had not pushed him to that point, although the boy knew that to pass his trials he'd need to endure far, far worse than a rough gym session.

"Walk around the room three times and drink some water," Drex told him. "Then come and join me." He took up a cross-legged position on the floor, waiting for his padawan to finish fulfilling his instructions.

Three laps of the small gym felt like five miles, but Kade completed them, and after a few sips of water he was feeling a little better.

Wordlessly, he sat, somewhat uncomfortably, opposite his master and attempted to hide the fact that if Drex ordered him to do one more exercise this session, he might just start crying.

"Do you have any idea why that just happened?" Drex asked mildly. "Why I just made you endure what was probably one of the more horrifying training sessions of your life so far?"

It was on the tip of his tongue to retort with: "Because you enjoy torturing me!" However, he recalled what had happened the last time he'd made such a remark. It had been during his first sparring match with Chatzis and Quarg. He had exhausted himself trying to impress his more experienced nephew with powerful attacks, and instead of winning the match, he'd wound up facing off against his master, which unfortunately resulted in losing more than the match. In fact, he ended up being worked to the point of exhaustion, sent home and walloped when he had tried to pull an attitude in response. Kaden was many things, but the boy was not stupid. Thus: "Because I lost my temper, took it out on you and because I need to improve my strength and endurance," he replied, still sounding a tad sullen and refusing to show how much the session had hurt him.

"Well, yes, you do," Drex said patiently, "but there's more to this than that. Sure, you took out your temper on me. But there was no need for you to lose it in the first place. I offered help in dealing with your frustrations, but you ignored that offer. And I believe you ignored my offer because of your pride and because you prefer to indulge your frustration over fundamentally changing your attitude about your training, which would be infinitely harder. You're used to thinking of a lightsaber as a weapon of attack, and to thinking of aggression as the main purpose of wielding a saber. You need to let go of that attitude in order to be able to move on to where you want to be. But you don't want to let go. You are clinging to it with all your might because attacking is what you're good at and love doing. And here I am, telling you that you need to stop doing it. Once and for all. I'm not surprised you're unhappy about it, but I expect you to accept my guidance and to be open for what you need to learn, instead of mourning the things you're not allowed to do. If you cannot do that, life will continue to be very, very difficult for you because I will certainly not give up."

"Well, I'm sorry that I'm not yet immune to losing my temper," Kade stated touchily, shifting uncomfortably on the hard floor. Kade understood what Drex was saying but like many things, it sounded simple enough in theory, but was far more difficult and complicated to put into practice.

"Unfortunately for you, I will come down on you hard every single time you lose it," Drex replied, "especially when related to your training. Ultimately, what is required of you is to do something that's not in your nature at all. You will need to surrender to what I'm trying to teach you here. Just waiting for it to be over so you can return to your old ways will not work. I know that surrender does not come easy to you, but sometimes, it requires more inner strength than fighting."

Kade didn't know what to say in response. After all, everything that his master had said was true. The only problem, he thought whilst discretely cupping an aching bicep muscle, was that despite knowing that it was for his own good, he still found it difficult to accept, not to mention unbelievably frustrating! Although he wasn't particularly happy about it now, he was secretly relieved that Drex was not planning to give up on him, as if he did, there was no future for him in the order. And Kaden wanted to be a Jedi more than anything. He used thoughts like these to firm up his resolve when it felt like it was all getting too hard, and that was how he managed to pull himself together each time he gave in to his temper or landed in deep water with his master, because Force knew the man was not kidding around when he said he came down on him hard. He always did.

Drex rose from his position. "We are going to the mineral baths now," he said. "That way, your muscles will only be very, very sore by tomorrow, as opposed to being unbelievably, intolerably sore. And believe me, I'm speaking from experience."

"Yeah, right. I'm sure master Devno did not push you to the Dark Side and back during a training session because you blew your stack at her," Kade guffawed, but there was no longer any bite to his tone. It was more one of resignation and, unsurprisingly, discomfort.

As they entered the hallway he quickly lost the pained expression and stiff gait in an effort not to appear as if he had just been walloped and run ragged for an hour. Unfortunately, if the sympathetic expressions from passers-by were anything to go by, his acting ability needed work.

Drex smiled. "Oh, the certainty of youth ..." he said in a distinctly amused tone of voice. "You know, I did have a temper when I was your age. I've also had more than fifty years to get rid of it, so it might not be that noticeable any longer. But my master did not usually chase me through the training room for my fits of temper. She just walloped me until I saw sense. What she chased me through the training room for was laziness. I was not very confident in my ability to ever become a field knight, due to my blindness, so I had times when I did not really think I needed to make much of an effort to improve my physical condition. Well, my master wouldn't have any of it. And the mineral baths have been specifically designed for the treatment of sore muscles, so you're hardly the only person who has ever had that complaint."

While he talked, he led Kaden into a simple change room that allowed them to undress and deposit their things on shelves. There was also a stack of dressing gowns and, for the more modest among the humanoids, swimming trunks although most Jedi simply went naked.

Not for the first time, Kade was pleased that his master could not see the expression on his face because the mental picture of his grandmaster chasing a young Drex through the gym was certainly enough to get him smiling. "I can't imagine you losing your shit over anything, or being considered lazy. Hell, you're quite possibly the 'un-laziest' person I know," the boy said honestly as he tugged off his uniform and tossed it onto the bench next to Drex's.

He paused briefly at the door and discretely turned his ass towards the mirror. It was decidedly red, but then again, he was pretty sure the Jedi sharing the pools with them would have seen far worse injuries in their time, not that he didn't still blush slightly as he padded along the stone path headed for the pool Drex had pointed out. They were all different shapes and smelled slightly different, so Kade figured that the one they were going to would have specific herbs beneficial to his injuries whilst not melting the skin from his Hrakian master. Their pool was large and deep enough to comfortably fit four Jedi. It was also currently empty. Kade looked left, then right, then made a bomb style entry, only to regret the move as his ass-first style of entry had clearly not been such a good idea: the pools, being meant for relaxation, not for swimming, were not deep enough for such jumps. Drex winced in sympathy as he heard and sensed Kaden's entry.

"Ouch …" Kade complained quietly, standing up and rubbing at his backside furiously.

"The next time you try that, padawan," Drex said, "check out the pool first. You're supposed to get in, stretch out, relax and let the water do its work on your muscles. If you want to swim, jump or dive, we can go to the big Temple pools any time."

He got in himself, leaning back against a rock and enjoying the slightly bubbly, scented water that had a very relaxing effect on his muscles and also possessed healing properties.

"It looked much deeper," Kaden defended himself, frowning, but after receiving a few frowns in kind from the Jedi resting in the pools around them, he decided to sit down before he attracted anymore unwanted attention. "Sorry," he said simply and copied the man's relaxed posture on the ledge opposite him.

They spent a good hour just soaking. When Kade got out, he looked like a prune. On the up side, his muscles were not burning as they had before. "Thanks, that feels a bit better. Can we eat at home tonight? I don't particularly feel like braving the dining hall," he asked while pulling on his boots.

"Sure," said Drex. "Our cooler is not particularly well-stocked, though. I could do some grocery shopping while you get started on your homework."

As a rule, he preferred eating in the dining hall. He was able to cook edible meals, especially in his own kitchen where all the ingredients were filled into containers that were clearly labelled in raised letters so he ran no risk of mixing up salt and sugar, but nonetheless, cooking took up quite a bit of time. On the other hand, it went much faster when he had a padawan to help. And as a result Kade had learned to make most of the basic meals they enjoyed fairly quickly. He didn't mind cooking although it wasn't something that particularly captured his interest, at least not at this stage of his apprenticeship; he was far too busy juggling his training and other commitments to make room for a hobby.

"Or we could order in and you could help me with my homework? It's biology, you know I hate biology," Kade elaborated.

"Of course, if you prefer me to," Drex agreed readily.

Kaden clipped his saber to his belt. He still couldn't believe he'd be leaving it home for their so-called saber practice tomorrow, although as he sat down on the wooden bench to wait for his master, his thoughts were immediately redirected towards the consequences of noncompliance…


	2. Chapter 2

When Drex and Kaden arrived home from their gym session, Drex found two messages on the comm unit.

One of them was from his second padawan Chatzis, saying that he and his padawan Quarg had just returned from their mission to Ustatxi and would be off for their mission debriefing, but he'd be in touch tomorrow.

The other one was from the Council, asking Drex to assist one Knight Muntadat with her preparation for a mission to Hrakia tomorrow. Muntadat was scheduled to leave at seven pm, so if Drex could devote the day to her it would be much appreciated.

"Padawan, it seems that I will be busy most of the day tomorrow," Drex told Kaden. "I'm sorry for that, but there's little I can do about it. We can go through your schedule tonight. And we'll have to see what to do about your training because I won't be able to have a workout with you." Drex thought for a moment. "You could work out in the weights room," he finally said.

"Great…. Working in the weights room is just what I had hoped for…." Kaden answered. He was being sarcastic of course. "Is the reason something to do with the messages?" He sat down onto a chair because by now the pain in his backside was little more than a mild irritation.

"Yes," said Drex. "The first one was from Chatzis. They just returned and will be in touch soon. The other one was an assignment for me that will take up most of tomorrow. I should be home by dinnertime. So, tomorrow afternoon, you're going to go to the weights room for at least an hour. Can I rely on you to do that or do I need to organise a babysitter?"

He was half-joking about that last bit. On the other hand, he was half-serious, too…

"I'll go, I'll go. Man. I'm gonna be thirteen soon, I certainly don't need a babysitter. How humiliating," the boy replied, none too pleased at having an hour of weights training to look forward to but resigned all the same. His mood picked up a little at hearing Chatzis and Quarg were back. He and Quarg had become friends over the past few months and Kaden was genuinely looking forward to seeing them both. "Maybe I'll call around on the way home from classes tomorrow? I'm interested in how their mission went." It wasn't really a question, but he had posed it as one.

"You may do that," Drex replied. "I have no intention of structuring or supervising every free minute you have, as long as your duties come first." He had chosen not to overload the boy with structure and supervision because generally, Kaden was not the sort to need it. For the most part the boy did as he was told, got the work done and was rather autonomous for a twelve-year-old.

"Now, what do you have to do for biology?" Drex asked.

"The process of photosynthesis," Kade groaned.

Thankfully Drex had taken a few biology classes over the years, and by the time Kade was finished, he could honestly say that he knew just about all there was to know about said process. He conveyed his gratitude to Drex during their evening meditation, not just for helping with homework, but also for not giving up on him. Words did not come easy to Kaden, but when they meditated on their training bond, he was able to articulate himself far more easily. In fact, meditating with his master was something the boy truly enjoyed.

Kaden woke early the next morning and padded out into their common room. Drex was not yet up, so he started making breakfast.

Drex awoke to the sound of Kaden rummaging around in the kitchen. He took a quick shower, got dressed and went to join his padawan. He liked such companionable activities. Kaden was generally a helpful boy, and Drex appreciated that. He had also told his padawan as much. He was generally quite explicit, both about his expectations and about his praise and criticism, since he thought this was likely to be of more value to an apprentice than assuming he could read minds. Only in instances in which Kaden had misbehaved in glaringly obvious ways did he dispense with explanations, and that always was a sure indication that he was very seriously displeased. For now, he had no reason to be even mildly displeased as Kaden and he sat down for a breakfast of cereal, fruit, toast, cheese, jam and yoghurt.

"As far as this afternoon is concerned," he told Kaden, "I want your homework to be done by dinnertime and one hour of exercise in the weights room completed. Apart from that, you are free to do as you like, within the usual limits. If there are any questions or problems, you may call me. I'll be at the Temple, and although I'm going to be busy, I'll be able to take calls."

"Alright," Kaden replied. He wasn't exactly thrilled over today's lineup, but nor did he complain.

An hour later Kaden was dressed and ready to go. "I'll see you tonight," the boy said in farewell.

"Have a good day," Drex said, smiling at him and seeing him to the door as Kade took off for classes.

As usual, the day was uneventfully boring. Kade didn't particularly mind school work but neither did he enjoy it. That said, today he did not mind getting to sit still as Drex had been right; he felt stiff and sore from the workout yesterday, and the idea of an hour pushing weights was growing less appealing by the second. It was around lunchtime when he arrived at Chatzis' and Quarg's quarters.

As it turned out, the pair were not long out of bed. Their mission had taken them almost halfway across the galaxy to a planet that, according to Chatzis, was far too cold for his liking.

"Have you had breakfast?" Quarg asked Kaden. "Or rather, lunch? We are going to the dining hall, I think. Wanna come? Or is Drex waiting for you?"

"Nah, he's busy most of the day and probably won't be back until around dinnertime," replied Kaden.

"I thought the Council had reduced his workload. Might be an emergency, then," Chatzis commented, emerging from his bedroom and looking slightly more awake than he had when Kade first arrived. "Quarg, go change, splash some water on your face and brush your hair, then we'll get going. I'm starving," the man said, sitting on the couch to pull on his boots. He looked at Kade's stiff posture as the boy sat opposite him on the couch and his lip pulled into a very slight smile. "So, what did you do to earn yourself such displeasure?" he questioned.

Kade sighed. "I lost my temper. So, he walloped my ass until I thought I might just die, and then made me do an hour of muscle building exercises. I didn't have a temper after all that. It would have been worse, but we went to the mineral pools afterwards."

"Yeah, he does that." Chatzis replied not unsympathetically, then shook his head and beckoned him over. "Sit down and I'll do some work on your arms until Quarg is ready. It will hurt initially but you'll feel better afterwards. Honestly, kid, you have to get that temper of yours under control. The consequences will only become worse if he doesn't sense an improvement."

"I _have_ improved, it's just… Ahh! Go easy!" Kade complained, his focus no longer on anything other than the muscle Chatzis was currently pulverising.

"So, if Drex isn't around, why don't you join us in the gym?" Quarg said brightly, returning from his refresher. "We ARE going to the gym, aren't we, Master? I'm so tired of being cooped up in a spaceship. I haven't properly used my saber in ages."

"Sure we are," Chatzis confirmed. "How about it, Kade?"

Thankfully, the expression on the boy's face was already one of discomfort as Chatzis finished with his arms, so his hesitation did not draw suspicion. "Okay, but I'm meant to be doing weights. Can we incorporate that into it somehow?"

"Yes, I think we can work something out. Come on, you two, let's go have something light to eat." Chatzis knew that the boy was not yet cleared to participate in the group sparring sessions, nor was he allowed to spar without supervision, so the fact that he'd been told to do weights was hardly surprising.

Fifteen minutes later, the three were seated in one of the less crowded dining halls eating lunch. Although Kade was riveted and hung on every word of Quarg's mission recap, he was beginning to wonder if agreeing to the gym workout had been such a good idea. Sure, he didn't _HAVE_ to spar, but this was Quarg and he really, really wanted to! Okay, the chances that Drex would actually find out were low since he had trained with Chatzis and Quarg many times before, and Drex had never asked for details. He hoped that his recent ban from Ataru didn't change that trend. He didn't like the way this was sounding; he would have to think this through a little more. After all, he could always change his mind.

"You could do weights first while I work out with my master," Quarg proposed while they made their way to the gym. "And then you join us and go against me? We haven't done that in ages. It'd be cool. Can we do that, Master?"

"Sure, I can't see why not. Unless Kaden is too sore after the weights." He turned to Kaden. "We'll wait and see how you feel."

Kade, for his part, spent the first half hour working on the different machines while Chatzis worked with Quarg on kata practice. He deliberately focused on the lower half of his body because his arms still hurt, but all the while he was thinking about whether or not he should go through with this. Then it came to him: he could still spar with Chatzis and Quarg as long as he stuck to Soresu! Drex had not banned him from sparring altogether, after all, he'd just said no to anything Ataru! A smile broke out across his face at this stroke of genius.

Chatzis, of course, was completely oblivious to any restrictions Drex had imposed. Thus, he motioned for Quarg to take a seat while he took Kaden through the first match. It wasn't that he didn't trust the kid, he was simply aware of the boy's issues and wanted to make sure he had his shit together before he allowed the two padawans to fight. Quarg could hold his own, he knew that; this precaution was mostly for Kade's benefit.

Kade rose to the challenges Chatzis threw at him, and, true to his plans, he stuck with Soresu. He had not long started learning the form, so he was not exactly brilliant, yet he did manage to keep the man at bay for most of their match.

"Keep your guard high. Good!" Chatzis coached Kaden just as he did his own apprentice, meaning that he gave concise feedback but kept the match rolling. Mistakes often ended up with the apprentice on his backside, which was a good enough incentive to improve, he believed. He was actually quite surprised that Kaden was not attacking with his usual fervour. In fact, the kid had yet to make a single attack which was very, very unlike what he knew of Kade. Well, he wasn't going out of his way to provoke an attack either. Drex was having a positive effect on Kade, that much was apparent.

"Enough," he finally called, effectively halting their match after almost twenty-five minutes. "Well done. Walk around and cool off. I'll work with Quarg for a while and then the two of you can have the final round," the man explained. He motioned for Quarg to join him, smiling at his apprentices enthusiasm; he liked a good fight as much as Kaden did, although he did not have the same issues with aggression.

Kaden did as bade and walked the room to cool off. All the while, he kept an eye on the match between Chatzis and Quarg. It was a lot faster-paced an smoother than the match between himself and Chatzis, but that was only to be expected; the two shared a training bond and they were both using it to full effect.

Chatzis gave his apprentice the usual run for his money, and by the time they were through, the boy was sweating and panting. Chatzis clapped his padawan's back in a comradely gesture, then gave the same instructions as he'd given Kaden. He wanted Quarg to be a bit more worn out than Kaden before the two boys started sparring against each other, but then, his apprentice was older and did not harbour the same issues as Kaden did.

"Ready?" he asked the two when Quarg approached.

Kaden nodded. He was looking forward to this even if he was only planning to defend.

Quarg, of course, had no idea that this was what Kaden was planning to do, nor did he have a clue of the reasons for Kaden's restraint. He attacked at a slow pace first, then, when Kaden kept blocking his attacks, upped the ante. Kade seemed to be afraid of something. But surely not of him?

"Come on, attack me already!" he called, meaning to encourage more than outright goad Kaden into fighting back. "I won't kill you!"

I can't! Kade thought, and at that moment he hated Drex for imposing these restrictions on him! Sure, he knew Drex had his reasons, but in the heat of the moment it was easier to blame his master. He was looking like a fool in front of Quarg whose opinion mattered more to him than he would admit. None of his thoughts or internal struggling showed on his face, though. Instead he switched to an Ataru stance and made a half-assed attack. Kaden hoped to draw attacks out of Quarg, but the more the two fought, the more he started to add in these token attacks until it was an outright free-for-all.

"See? You can do this!" Quarg called out in delight, backflipping out of harm's way as Kaden went in with another ferocious attack. "This is fun!" He came at Kaden from behind, enjoying himself thoroughly and still completely unaware that he was helping to seal Kaden's fate.

Course he could do it! He just wasn't meant to be doing IT! This guilt was warring with the instant gratification he was getting from going at it, no holds barred, with Quarg. He loved it. But, unlike Quarg, Kaden often supplemented his competitive nature by drawing on the aggression that the fight instinctively brought out in him. It was a common theme with him, and something he was aware of and actively trying to put a lid on.

Chatzis was watching. "Enough," he called, and got to his feet. He could tell that both apprentices were enjoying the match so far, but Kaden was beginning to feel a bit too fierce for his liking. The kid wasn't losing it, but neither was Chatzis willing to let it go further. Either Kaden would exhaust himself or he might actually do damage with one of his attacks. "Walk around and cool off, then we'll hit the showers," he told the two and gathered his bag.

"Wait, not yet," Kaden replied, puffing to catch his breath. He had his saber pointed towards the floor, however, as did Quarg.

"Now." Chatzis was easy-going enough, but he wasn't about to be told 'no' by any padawan. Especially not his own padawan 'brother'.

Kaden looked from Quarg to Chatzis, then disignited his saber. He'd have loved to go at this for another ten minutes, but the truth was, he was sore, tired and… he wasn't meant to be doing it in the first place! Wordlessly, he went to the bench where Chatzis held out his bag and took it. He wanted to apologise, but he was calming down now and had the sense to feel a bit sheepish for having to be told twice. Drex would have been less forgiving, he knew.

"Good job. Showers, both of you," Chatzis said. He was still impressed with the progress Kaden had made. After all, having to be told twice was nothing unusual for most new padawans.

"Good fight," Quarg said cheerfully, grinning at Kaden. "Let's do this again soon, provided we're not sent on another mission. But we probably won't. I'm enrolled in an advanced strategy course with simulations and off-world trips and all, and they don't usually pull you out of those."

He dropped his bag on a bench and pulled off his sweaty training clothes.

"You should make a trip to the mineral pools again before this evening, but you'll notice that after the sparring session you will begin to feel a little looser," Chatzis advised Kade as the three showered off and changed.

"Yeah. I'm a bit sore. Besides, Drex made me do a million push-ups," Kaden griped.

"Well, perhaps next time you'll keep a lid on your temper," the Zabrak chided him, but he wasn't entirely serious. After all, he'd been on that side of Drex more times than he cared to remember.

Drex, in the meanwhile, spent his day coaching knight Muntadat for her mission to Hrakia. Since her flight left at seven, he thought they'd probably wrap this up around six. By five in the afternoon, however, she received a call from the Council asking her to present herself to the Council chamber for an additional last minute mission briefing since new information had come in. Drex's task thus ended earlier than anticipated. He decided to make use of that and stop by Chatzis' quarters on his way home.

"Hello, Quarg," he said to his grandpadawan, smiling at the teenager who had answered the door. "How was your mission? Both of you back in one piece?"

"Sure," Quarg replied with a grin. "Come in. My master is just making tea. As a matter of fact, your padawan just left one or two hours ago."

"Oh?" Drex said, following Quarg inside. "Hello Chatzis. Good to see you. Only just back and already entertaining my padawan?"

Chatzis heard his former master's voice in their common room and quickly added a third cup to his and Quarg's. A minute later the Zabrak emerged from the kitchen, carrying three mugs. "Of course, it's in the job description."

Truth be told, Chatzis was honestly impressed by how much the boy's attitude to sparring had improved. After all, the kid had spent all of their match, and half of the one he had had against Quarg, focusing on defences, which was very unusual, but no less good to see.

"Here, I made you a cup of that dishwater you like to call tea," he said light-heartedly, gesturing towards the steaming mug. "It's good to be back. Ustatxi is becoming increasingly unstable and I'm not sure how much of a long-term solution our negotiations will provide," he told the older Jedi, gesturing that he sit.

They spent several minutes talking about the mission Chatzis and Quarg had returned from. Drex was pleased to see, figuratively speaking, how much maturity and expertise Quarg had gained and how much of an asset he had been to the mission, according to Chatzis.

Chatzis was indeed proud of his apprentice. He was shaping up to be a very well-rounded young Jedi, which wasn't to say the boy had a trouble-free existence: he still found his fair share of mischief.

"It was good talking to you," Drex finally said, putting down his empty tea mug and rising. "I have to go home and look after my padawan now. I was sorry to have to leave him to his own devices today. He's very independent, but he's also very frustrated at the way his training his going at the moment. I would have preferred to have a workout with him, rather than send him to the weights room."

"Not to worry, Quarg and I made sure he had a good lunch and invited him to join us in the gym. Which reminds me," Chatzis stood from the table as Drex did, clapping the man on the arm." I have to say that whatever you're doing with the boy it is working. His control over his aggression and ability to focus on the Force, instead of simply trying to win every fight, have improved greatly. Do you know he didn't attempt a single attack against me, and he spent the first half of his fight against Quarg practicing Soresu? And, if I didn't know better I would swear I sensed actual guilt from him when he started fighting back. It was certainly an interesting session, but then again, Kaden has always been full of surprises."

Drex raised his eyebrows and stopped in his tracks.

"He sparred against Quarg?" he inquired. "That is indeed a surprise. And I'm glad to hear that he started out by using Soresu because that is what he is restricted to for the moment. I had meant to tell you about this. Apparently, Kaden saw no need to inform either of you. I gather from your comment that he did not stick to that restriction?"

"No, and no, he said nothing about that to me," the man said, a hint of sympathy for his Jedi brother in his tone.

Turning towards Quarg, he asked: "Padawan, did Kade say anything to you about being restricted to Soresu?" He was quite certain that this was not the case because if Quarg knew, he wouldn't have engaged the boy with such fervour. They both knew that Kaden was learning to control his aggression.

Quarg's eyes widened. This did not bode well for Kaden at all, he thought… but he could not see what he could do about the situation. After all, he could hardly ignore his master's question, or worse, lie to him.

"No, Master," he said honestly. "I had no idea. If I had known, I wouldn't have sparred with him like I did, and I certainly wouldn't have encouraged him to fight back. I did notice that he tried to stick to Soresu at the outset. I think he just forgot himself eventually because he was having so much fun… and because I asked him to. I'm sorry, grandmaster."

"Thank you, Quarg," Drex said calmly. "You have nothing to apologise for. Kaden should have told you. I will go home and talk to Kaden about this, then."

He said goodbye to Chatzis and Quarg and made his way home, thinking about how best to proceed.

Having picked up on Quarg's emotions, Chatzis placed a hand on the boys shoulder, and sent him a wave of reassurance across their bond. "He'll live. Come on. I think some meditation and a night spent relaxing are in order. You have classes tomorrow."

Quarg sighed and complied, but his thoughts were with Kaden….


	3. Chapter 3

Kaden felt guilty…

He'd sparred with Chatzis and Quarg after Drex had restricted him to Soresu. He knew that Drex had that restriction in place for a reason, even if he didn't agree with it, and he'd disobeyed. Consequently, he'd returned to the gym to finish the last half hour of his weights session in the hopes that this would somehow ease his conscience. Yeah… He then took Chatzis' advice and went to the mineral pools because at least this soothed his muscles.

Not surprisingly, it was one guilty, slightly aching padawan who eventually made his way back to their quarters that afternoon. "I'm home," he spoke from the door while kicking off his boots. He received no answer, but was not surprised; Drex was meant to be gone until dinnertime. With this in mind, he tossed his bag into his room and dug out today's homework. Thanks to his master's help, he had passed the quiz with flying colours and his only task from biology was to write explanations to those few questions that he'd gotten wrong. Piece of cake, he thought, and after procuring himself a handful of cookies from the cupboard, he spread his work out on the kitchen table. Losing himself in work would be a welcome distraction.

A mere quarter of an hour later, Drex entered their quarters, earlier than scheduled. "Padawan?" he called as the door swished open and he stepped inside. "Are you home?"

"Yeah, how was it?" Kaden answered. He was pleased to have an excuse to leave his work for now, and thankfully, feeling less guilt as some time had passed.

"Uneventful," Drex said neutrally. "If you still have homework to complete, finish it now. I'll order some dinner for later in the meanwhile. When you are done, let me know. I need to talk to you." He hung up his cloak, pulled off his boots and went to sit at the terminal where he started listening to a report that had come in during the day.

Had Kade not felt on edge already, he would not have given Drex's comment a second thought. As it was, however, the boy wilted back into his seat. Suddenly he didn't feel so great.

Twenty minutes later, Kade had finished the last of his work and rose from the table, stretching towards the ceiling. "Argh, that sucked, it really, really sucked," he squeezed out in one long breath as he stretched his body tall. Then, not particularly wanting to talk, he suggested: "Can I go watch holo until dinner arrives?"

"Nice try," said Drex, taking off his headphones. "You know perfectly well I told you we need to talk. Any idea what I might want to talk to you about? Or, to put it simply: Is there anything you need to tell me?"

He had felt the guilt radiating off his padawan the moment he entered the door. Kaden would fare much better if he came clean on his own.

The kids face fell and his gut tightened. "You stopped by to see Chatzis and Quarg." It wasn't really a question since, if what he sensed from his master was anything to go by, the boy already knew the answer. Still, there was a chance that this was over something completely unrelated, and if he could get out of this without throwing himself under the shuttle bus, he would.

"I did," Drex confirmed. "So, tell me what you did that I hadn't hoped to hear from them."

Kaden saw blinding lights and the sound of an approaching shuttle bus in his mind; it wasn't looking good….. He swallowed, straightened up and folded his arms defensively. "I went to the gym with Chatzis and Quarg, and I might have done some Ataru," he said in a quiet voice.

"I would like to hear the full story, please," Drex said calmly, but with a hint of steel in his voice. "When did you set out to do this? How did it happen? And what made you think that this would be acceptable?"

He suspected that Kaden had actually not thought it would be acceptable at all, but for once, he wanted to hear more than his padawan's usual one-sentence answers. Only then could he decide upon appropriate consequences.

"Firstly, I didn't 'set out to do it,'" Kade stated a little more indignantly than he had a right to be, considering. "I stopped in at Chatzis' and Quarg's on the way home from classes like I said I was going to. They invited me to lunch, then suggested that I go to the gym with them, as you weren't going to be around until later tonight. I said I would. I told Chatzis that you had assigned weights and asked if we could incorporate that, which we did."

He huffed, slumping onto the couch. He had a pretty good idea where this was going to wind up, and he was in no rush to get there. "I agreed to spar with them, but I planned to do just Soresu. I fought Chatzis using Soresu only, but when it came to sparring with Quarg it didn't work out that way." He scrubbed a hand through his hair as he often did when trying to hide discomfort. "Look, I tried, okay! I just got carried away." The boy threw his arms up in exasperation. "Quarg thought I was scared to fight him, and I didn't want to admit that you banned me from Ataru. I might as well be back in junior creche admitting to having my scissors confiscated!" He hadn't wanted Chatzis restricting him either, but he wasn't about to admit that.

"Cut down on the indignation," Drex said without heat. "So, your pride kept you from giving Chatzis and Quarg information that they needed to have. And I think you knew that."

Kaden felt a surge of guilt at that statement. Maybe it had been prideful, but well hell, how embarrassing! He kept these thoughts to himself, though.

"Why didn't you think of calling me and asking for permission?" Drex asked.

"Ask!? ASK? But!" The boy had nothing. "I didn't think to ask," he was forced to admit, and sunk a little deeper into the couch. "Besides, if I had, it's not like you would have said yes, is it?"

"I probably would have asked to talk to Chatzis and told him about your restriction," said Drex. "So that's a valid reason not to ask, is it?"

"No, but since that wasn't my reason for not asking in the first place, I guess it doesn't matter," Kade said sullenly.

"What was your reason, then?" Drex asked patiently. "Was there any way in which you would have considered this whole affair legitimate?"

Did he consider what he'd done acceptable? Probably not, no, but the consequences of stating as much were something he was desperately trying to avoid. "I told you already. I didn't ask for your permission because I didn't think to," he replied evenly. By this stage he was clutching at straws, and the shuttle bus was all but on him.

Drex wasn't pleased with Kaden's evasiveness, but he had no interest in drawing this conversation out any longer. It was quite obvious that his padawan knew he had been in the wrong, much as he seemed loathe to admit it.

"If that's the most I can get out of you, we'd better wrap up this discussion," Drex said neutrally. He held out his hand.

"Give me your saber," he said. "I will keep it for you until I have seen a real improvement in your attitude towards sparring."

Kaden winced as the mental image of being wiped out by a shuttle bus whizzed through his mind. Not again, he couldn't lose his saber again. "But, no… Master please. There is nothing wrong with my attitude towards sparring. I was just having some fun and got carried away. I told you that I didn't ask because I didn't think to ask, and I know that was stupid and I will even admit that it wasn't a valid excuse. I followed all your instructions, I even went back to finish off the weights session!" Kaden was in full damage control mode now, and for a boy of few words, he was managing to find plenty at the moment.

"Padawan, your saber is only getting in your way," Drex said firmly. "Unless you can prove to me you have more self-control than you displayed today, the decision on when and how to use it will be taken from you. I trusted you to act responsibly today, but you did not live up to that trust. It must have been obvious to you from the outset that there would be consequences. Now give me your saber."

"How am I supposed to prove that I have self-control if you have my damned saber!" Kade roared. The tears that had welled in his eyes slid down his face and he swiped at them angrily. It made him feel angry, frustrated, miserable and stupid all at once. How could his master do this to him? Again, he swiped at his face only this time his expression was dark.

"Padawan, calm down on your own or ask for help," Drex said patiently. "Either way, give me your saber."

Kaden unclipped his saber, clutching it in his hand so tightly that he swore the hilt would crush from the sheer force. His breathing began to speed up and he started to shake a little; he was going to do his block. "Fine!" He pelted his lightsaber at the wall as hard as he could, grunting with the exertion. "Seems as you never let me use it anyway, I may as well just go without it forever!" he bellowed, his voice cracking slightly.

Drex reached out with the Force, and instead of hitting the wall, the lightsaber zoomed towards his outstretched hand. Drex caught it deftly and clipped it to his belt.

Kade just stood there and looked on in disbelief as Drex summoned his lightsaber. He didn't even get the satisfaction of hearing it crack against the wall! Was there nothing the man would not take from him!? Yes, he was going to lose it alright. He wanted to smash something. Anything! His breathing picked up again, his fists balled and shook at his sides and the boy swore their common room actually took on a red tinge as he struggled not to totally lose his shit.

"Padawan, close your eyes, count to ten and breathe," Drex ordered, rising from his seat. "You are losing it, and there is no need for that."

"NO NEED FOR THAT?!" The man had to be joking! He'd taken his lightsaber AGAIN! "I can't, I think I AM going to EXPLODE," Kaden ground out. By now, sweat was beading on his forehead and the air around him had turned static causing the tiny hairs on his arms to stand up. He was dangerous now, he knew that, but he was just so seething fucking mad that it was blinding him.

While Drex was definitely planning on disciplining Kaden for his disobedience, he did not think that it would be a wise idea to pursue that line of action while the boy was in this state. Besides, Kaden needed to learn that there were ways his master could help him if he was overwhelmed by his emotion, other than putting him across his knees and walloping his bottom.

Drex took hold of both of Kaden's shoulders and sent a strong surge of calming energy through their bond.

"Close your eyes and count to ten," he ordered again, more softly, continuing to flood their bond with calming energy in regular waves. "You are NOT going to explode. Breathe."

Drex's touch helped but it was his influence across their bond that stopped Kaden from toppling over the edge. He closed his eyes tightly. "ONE, TWO, THREe, FOur, Five…" he paused to take a few deep breaths, then continued. "Six, seven, eight, nine, ten." The kid was still shaking and his fists were still balled tightly at his sides. He didn't say anything, though, he just kept breathing.

"Good," Drex praised him softly. "Very good. Now do it again."

He had Kaden repeat this exercise several times. When it felt as if his padawan would not immediately fly off the handle any longer, Drex gently steered the boy towards the door, his hands still on his shoulders.

"We are going to the nearest meditation garden," he said gently, "where I will help you release your emotions into the Force. And we will stay there for as long as you need to."

Kade nodded and allowed himself to be escorted from their quarters. He kept his gaze down because he seriously didn't think he could take a single disapproving look from anyone over his lack of lightsaber at this point, lest he fry them with Force lightning. He'd never actually done such a thing, but the idea of losing his lightsaber riled him like nothing else. Just thinking about it sped up his breathing, and he grit his teeth in frustration. He was truly struggling with this aspect of his training, and the thought alone was enough to send him into a pity spiral. Why didn't others face such demons? Why ME?! he thought, all the while trying hard not to rile himself up again; Drex had managed to pull him from the brink and he didn't want to go back there.

Thankfully, the nearest meditation garden was not far, but neither was it empty, not that the boy particularly cared.

Drex nodded at the garden's occupants, a master-padawan team who seemed to have just finished a meditation. The master, a middle-aged Chalactan Jedi, took in the situation with one glance, whispered something to her padawan and they left discreetly. Nevertheless, Drex led Kaden towards a secluded corner of the garden next to a small waterfall where they were unlikely to be disturbed.

"Kneel, Padawan," he instructed quietly. "Then link with me. Lower your shields. Throw all your anger at me if you feel like it. I can deal with it. We will sort through it and I will help you release it into the Force."

Drex was entirely prepared to spend one hour, two hours or the whole night in this garden if need be. Kaden needed to get his temper under control, but he needed help doing so, and Drex was willing to provide that help.

Having to admit that he needed help to control his temper did not exactly bode well for the boy's pride. It made him feel like a toddler, but there wasn't much he could do about that at the moment as he really was losing his shit over this. He knelt in one jerky movement and glared across at the man who had just confiscated his weapon. He really wanted to pull out all the stops, to let his emotions take over and unleash all of his rage upon Drex. Doing so would be dangerous for them both, but in the heat of the moment, he was just so angry. He looked up. His eyes had taken on a red tinge and the air around the pair had grown heavy with static. But when he met his master's sightless gaze, he saw nothing but compassion, and his anger ebbed just enough so that he could regain control.

He managed to get his shields down enough so that Drex could lead him through the meditations. It wasn't easy having someone else see all your faults, especially when they were as spectacular as his. Nonetheless, he did as he was told.

It had gotten quite late by the time they were finished, and Drex knew that Kaden was, by now, just as exhausted on a mental level as he had exhausted himself physically. Still, they needed to conclude this discussion, and Kaden was now calm enough to make this seem feasible. Drex really did not like postponing such things. He wanted his padawan to be able to move on.

"Padawan, I know this was not easy, and I am proud of you for having pulled yourself together and worked on this with me," he told Kaden, his voice laced with affection. "That was quite an accomplishment. And I want to make clear to you that I will never punish you for flying into a rage as long as you allow me to help you and make an effort to conquer your anger. We all have issues we need to work on, and this is yours. That said, I will consistently punish you for disobedience, and if that disobedience involves a saber, you will invariably lose the right to carry one for a while. I am afraid you will also lose the ability to sit comfortably, at least temporarily. Now, in deference to the fact that you at least made some kind of effort to stick to your restrictions and follow my orders, I will not use the hairbrush, but you will receive a spanking nonetheless."

He rose from his kneeling position and sat down on one of the benches that were placed next to the waterfall.

"You know the drill," he said calmly. "I want your bottom bare and over my lap."

That this was such a common occurrence that he knew the 'drill' had the boy wincing; it was true, he seemed unable to keep himself out of trouble. Drex's praise didn't do much for his mood at this point, because not only was he not getting his lightsaber back, he was also going to cop it. In a meditation garden…. On his bare backside! The boy swallowed, making no move to rise. "Please, don't you think taking my lightsaber is enough. For Force's sake, it's the only thing I'm good at and you're always taking it off me. Please, I'm begging you, let me have it back," he pleaded, his expression piteous, not that Drex could see it.

"Kaden, this is not open for negotiation," Drex said firmly. "I told you the rules. I will not change them just because you feel bad about them. It was your decisions that brought us to this point, not mine. Now you can either do as I told you or we go home and you fetch my hairbrush."

If there was one thing Kade wanted less than getting spanked in a meditation garden, it was going home and copping it with that bat his master tried passing off as a hairbrush. He'd never felt anything like it: it was heavy, large and the last time he'd been given a dose, the boy had sworn to all that was sacred that he would never, ever do anything to earn it ever, ever again.

It was that memory that had him on his feet, if only grudgingly. He let out a groan as he moved to the man's right and deftly pulled both his trousers and undershorts down. He really did not want to bend over, but it didn't seem like he was being given much of a choice; he either pulled himself together and took his smacking like a man now, or Drex was going to march him back to their quarters where he'd be told to get the brush. He hated that brush, thus, he let out a groan, squashed his pride and awkwardly bent over.

Entirely unperturbed by his padawan's lacklustre compliance, Drex tilted him forward so that his bottom was perfectly positioned for the sound spanking he meant to deliver. And he wasted no time in delivering it, bringing his hand down onto his hapless padawan's bottom hard and fast.

"You may not like your restrictions, but you will stick to them," he scolded while he spanked. "At the very least, you will ask for permission when in doubt. If something like this ever happens again, you will receive a dose of my hairbrush, and possibly more often than once."

"Ah! Shit ...!" Kade hissed, unable to stop himself from gasping as the first smack took his breath away. It never ceased to amaze him just how much force the man could put into each swat. His body jutted forward with the impact and his arms strained against his weight as he tried to brace himself. Despite this, he was doing his best to listen. He got most of it, but the words that stood out to him came last. More often than once, as in, more than one time? The padawan almost choked. Surely his master wasn't serious? Not that he had much time to contemplate this as Drex continued to wallop his thoughts back into the moment.

With years of practice to back him up, Drex continued to mete out a very, very thorough spanking. He was certainly not going to stop before his padawan had shed some real tears. Unfortunately for Kaden, his stubbornness tended to make this a long process, but Drex was persistent. He focussed most of the spanking on the area on which Kaden eventually would have to sit, not giving him a seconds reprieve.

Having been on the receiving end of his master's displeasure more times than he cared to remember, Kade knew that despite wanting to accept correction stoically, it never worked out that way. It was with this in mind, and a considerable sting building at the other end, that the boy had an idea. Okay, so given his current state it was not the most well thought-out of ideas, but it was an idea all the same. He grunted through a couple more then, forgoing the usual minutes of begging and pleading that generally preceded the inevitable screaming and bawling match, Kaden started crying. Really crying. This was unusual, to say the least, but to hell with it, he thought; if crying earlier was going to bring this to an end faster, then his pride would just have to forgive him later.

Drex could sense a little of what was going on in his padawan, and he could guess the rest. So he had understood that stubbornly clinging to his pride for as long as humanly possible was not helpful. That was good. On the other hand, Drex did not want to give him the impression that by shedding some tears, he could determine when his punishment was over. Therefore, he administered about fifteen more hefty swats, aiming at the crease where Kaden's buttocks met his thighs. Only then did he allow his hand some rest.

Ordinarily, when Kade cried like that, he'd be given another five or so and Drex would stop! But that wasn't the case this time, and as Drex landed the tenth teeth-rattling smack, Kaden was really starting to struggle. Unsurprisingly, by the time his master's hand exploded onto his backside for the fifteenth time since this charade began, he had dropped any attempts at theatrics and was crying for real. Still, he was more than through with this; his ass had its very own heartbeat and he was pretty sure that it was going to burn for the next few hours at least. It was with that in mind that the boy lifted his hands to place them on Drex's thigh and pushed himself up.

Drex helped Kaden up and rummaged in his pocket for a handkerchief. "Do you need a minute or would you prefer to go home right away?" he asked matter-of-factly.

"I just want to go back to our quarters, please," the boy managed to get out as he stumbled to his feet and righted his clothing. The truth was, not only had Kade exhausted himself both physically and mentally, but he had an aching backside to top it off, and what he wanted most right now was to fall onto his bed and sulk over having lost his lightsaber yet again.

Alright," Drex said. "You may have some time to yourself, but you will eat something before you go to bed.

And we will meditate one more time. Come on."

He escorted Kaden out of the garden and towards their quarters.

The boy blew his nose on the handkerchief and followed his master out of the garden, grateful that, if anyone had happened to pass by, they'd kept right on going …

The walk home was quiet, but not uncomfortably so. When they reached their door, Drex picked up a couple of food boxes that had probably been delivered ages ago and were stone cold by now.

"Isn't there some sort of temple regulation that prevents you from walloping me in a meditation garden?" Kade asked wryly as they entered their common room. He wasn't quite ready to forgive his master yet, and neither was he over having his lightsaber taken off him.

"None that I am aware of," Drex replied equally wryly as he carried the boxes into the kitchen. "You may retire to your room for a twenty minutes. I will see about salvaging our food."

Kaden didn't need telling twice. He disappeared into his bedroom where he lay face down on his bed and proceeded to sulk. He didn't even bother trying to cool his backside as, given that Drex had not truly given him what for, it would be more effort than the short relief it provided was worth.

When the twenty minutes were up, he didn't want to come out but reluctantly left his room nonetheless. He wasn't feeling particularly sociable, but nor was he willing to disobey.

His gaze went to the lightsaber that hung at his master's belt and the boy just sighed; he'd probably be the only Jedi doing his trials without his lightsaber, he thought sullenly, and winced as he saw their hard dining room chairs. Thinking quickly, Kaden grabbed a cushion from their common room and discretely placed it on his seat before joining Drex in the kitchen. "Can I help?" he asked, more from habit than any real want to make himself useful.

"Well, I am mostly done reheating our food," Drex replied. "You could put it on plates and place them on the table, please."

Much to Kade's horror, and despite the cushion, it was still not entirely comfortable to sit down. That said, neither was he willing to make a show of it.

When they were seated at the table and had started on their food, Drex said: "Padawan, I get the impression that you're just waiting for this to be over so you can get back to how you really like to do things. I'm sorry to disappoint you, but this will simply not cut it. The goal is to get you to think of your saber as a defensive weapon, and to internalise that idea, not to improve your defences a bit and then let you get back to your old style of doing things. The sooner you learn to accept that, the more time you will get to spend with your saber on your belt."

Yes, Kade was looking at it exactly like that. That Drex knew it caused the boy to pause in his eating; a feat in and of itself. He stared, then he started to eat again. There was a very long silence in which Kaden did a lot of thinking but found he had no response to Drex's words. What could he say to that? It was true but that didn't make it any easier to accept. He simply needed to do better. He would have to do better…


	4. Chapter 4

Drex knew that Kaden would find it hard to reach a stage where he could truly accept his lightsaber as a defensive weapon, but he would have to reach it if he ever was to become a Jedi knight. And Drex was determined to help him reach that goal. If that required unpopular measures at times, then that was the way it was. He hoped that Kaden would ultimately be able to understand that all this was for his own good, even if he did not like it at the time.

The next day, true to his promise, he left Kaden's saber at home when they went to the gym whereupon Kade's mood went from flat to flat-out sullen.

"We will continue working on the move we started to practice last time," Drex told his padawan, "focussing on your footing and your balance for now. Try drawing on the Force to see the pattern that this move requires."

Instead of igniting a saber, he fetched a lightweight, but sturdy stick from the store room that was typically used as a replacement for a saber in situations in which real hits were a possibility.

Kade stood where he was told to, crossed his arms and followed Drex with his eyes. He wasn't happy about this and it showed on his face, not that Drex could see it. When he caught sight of the stick, though, he dropped the expression.

"I will attack with this," Drex said, "and you will execute the move I taught you. If you do it right, I will miss. If you don't do it right ... well, this should not hurt TOO much."

"Great, that's just great. Why don't you just send me back to train with the six-year-olds in crèche. Oh, wait, that's right, six-year-olds are permitted to use training sabers," Kade said acerbically, his stance becoming rigid as he faced off against his master.

Drex was not annoyed, per se, but he was not at all happy with his padawan's attitude. It had to stop, if only because it needed to stop for Kaden to make any progress.

Without a word, he did the same thing he had done the day before yesterday: He grabbed Kaden by the ear, led him over to the bench and said: "Bare your bottom and bend over. I will not tolerate your attitude any longer.

There will be no more warnings. Give me this kind of insolence, and you will receive a spanking and will spend the rest of the session doing muscle-building exercises. You will not exactly enhance your chances of receiving your saber back any time soon either."

Unlike yesterday, this time the padawan was completely taken off guard. "Ow!" he yelped before he could stop himself, and as he had done before, tried to walk with some semblance of dignity with little success. By the time Drex released his ear, the boy's eyes were glassy and the expression on his face a mixture of disbelief and regret. He stared at Drex incredulously as the man crossed his arms. He was clearly waiting for him to comply with his orders, but Kaden was, unsurprisingly, reluctant.

"Aw, no, not again! Why are you torturing me?" the boy whined. It was very unlike Kade to whine about anything, but it was out before he'd had time to think. That was happening a lot at the moment: he was letting his emotions take control and wasn't thinking.

"I am not torturing you, I am disciplining you," Drex replied evenly. "And I told you the reason why. Your attitude is unacceptable. Whining will not get you out of this. Now, you can either do as I told you, right now, or we can go back to our quarters and continue this discussion with my hairbrush."

Okay, so there was no way Kade wanted a run-in with that brush. That said, neither did he want to feel Drex's displeasure again so soon! Also, his muscles still ached from yesterday's session with Chatzis and Quarg. Very reluctantly, he unclipped his utility belt. Why he bothered to wear the thing at all was beyond him; it wasn't like he had a saber to hang on it. After scuffing at the floor once in frustration, he shucked both trousers and undershorts to his knees and then, with great reluctance, he put his hands on the bench. He hated this! Well, at least Drex wasn't putting him over his knee because that was about the only thing that could make this situation worse.

Drex had no intention of making this a token spanking. He might only be using his hand, but he raised it as high as he possibly could and brought it down onto Kaden's bottom so hard that the room rang out with the swat.

"The attitude stops here," he informed his padawan and meted out another swat that was no less impressive. "You want to be a Jedi Knight, you learn what I have to teach you." SWAT! "The way I teach it." SWAT! "Whether you find it entertaining or not." SWAT! "I expect to see your best effort." Two more hard swats emphasised this point.

"Whining, sulking and complaining will get you nowhere but into the exact situation you are in," Drex concluded his scolding and then focussed on spanking his padawan's bottom soundly.

"AHhh!" Kade gasped at that first smack, than yelped again as the next one landed just as hard and in the same spot. "AH! AHH! Far, AHH-OwwUT!" he cried, his hips involuntarily shifting forward in an effort to dampen the next smack with no success. Drex was not holding back this time and it showed. "Master, please," Kade blurted, but was forced to grab the bench as another swat landed, this time hard enough to produce tears. Despite feeling ashamed at crying over less than ten swats, he couldn't help it; it was really hurting and he didn't know if he could stand up to much more of this.

Drex was not planning on giving him a choice, though. He had been relatively lenient yesterday, at least as far as the spanking was concerned. If this was the result, then lenience was not the way to go with Kaden. His left hand pressed down on Kaden's back, forcing him to bend lower; his right administered several spectacular spanks onto the undercurve of the boy's bottom, right on top of each other.

Although it was unintentional, Kaden couldn't help but stiffen when Drex's hand pushed him down. He didn't want to bend over further as he knew what that meant for his backside, but unfortunately, he wasn't being given a choice. He started taking short breaths and tried tightening the muscles in his backside, but from this position all he could manage was to curve his spine in an effort to protect his sit spot and thighs. It did not work. "OWWch! OWW! OWW, Ahhhha-HA!" the boy bellowed, his voice breaking as he buckled at the knees a little and started crying in earnest. He was sorry, very, very sorry and he would never ever do anything like this ever, ever again – at least that was what he tried conveying across their bond as he was too busy howling to plead for mercy in any coherent way.

Drex could actually feel the exertion in his hand; his right palm radiated heat. But he had a strong feeling that Kaden needed him to be tough with him, and a bit of strain on his spanking arm was a fairly low price to pay for that. Seemingly unperturbed by Kaden's plea, he administered half a dozen more hard swats, this time to the uppermost parts of the boy's thighs. Only then did he take away his left from Kaden's back and allow him to stand up.

By the time Drex landed those last few swats, Kaden was practically kneeling on the bench. He had been unable to stand still, and had it not been for his master's hand holding him in place, the boy would have been on his feet and jumping around long ago. So, it was hardly surprising that this was exactly what he did when he was finally allowed to stand up. Unperturbed by the preposterous sight he was no doubt presenting to his dignified master, Kade jumped up and down, rubbing furiously at his bottom with both hands, his face streaked with tears and nose running onto his tunic. He was still crying too much to speak but after another twenty seconds spent hopping around in circles, he was starting to pull himself together.

He did not want to do muscle-building exercises. In fact, he did not want to do anything unless it involved something cool and soothing on his backside, or going home to sulk over the unfairness of his master's methods. Not even Kaden could deny their effectiveness, though. Because, as much as he'd never admit it, nothing snapped him out of inappropriate behaviour faster than a hiding.

Drex rummaged around in his gym bag and produced a towel that he handed to Kaden. "Clean up your face," he told him. "Then start on push-ups. The next time you feel like sulking, whining or giving me an attitude, think twice because I will march you right back to this bench if you do. It stops here and now. Your training is important, and you will not make any progress unless you pull yourself together, stop questioning me and start making an effort."

His voice was quite calm as he said this. He was merely stating a fact. If Kaden found himself unable to follow the rules his master set, then he would have to bear the consequences.

As far as Kade was concerned, the consequences were by far not worth the brief satisfaction he got from venting his frustrations and sulking. He swiped at his face with the towel, then tossed it onto the bench before attempting to right his clothing. He did not want to do push-ups, he really didn't, and the piteous expression on his face said as much, not that Drex could see it as he walked, stiff-legged, towards the middle of the room for the second time this week. "Master, please. I'm really sorry I swear to the Force I will never ever do anything like this ever again, please, can't you cut me some slack?" he sniffled, for once not caring how pathetic he sounded or that he had actually resorted to flat-out begging.

Drex was unperturbed by his padawan's pleas. "No, padawan," he said firmly. "You are not getting out of this. You need to change your attitude, and I am providing you with an incentive to do so. You've had your chance for today. Push-ups. Now."

In truth, if Kaden was very good, Drex was planning on going back to working on defensive moves after half an hour or so; but that depended on his padawan's behaviour.

The boy just groaned, and despite wanting to argue that having his backside walloped into next week was incentive enough, he dropped to the floor and reluctantly obeyed. After all, it was his inability to do as he was told and smart-ass remarks that had gotten him here in the first place.

By thirty, he had broken out in a sweat, by forty he was struggling, and by fifty it was only sheer stubbornness that prevented him from dropping onto his belly and begging for a reprieve; his backside burned, as did his arms and stomach! By the time Drex was through disciplining him, Kade was quite certain that no amount of time spent in a mineral pool was going to save him. Push-ups, skipping, back flips, sit-ups, more skipping, front flips … Kaden wanted to die.

Nonetheless, despite his obvious pain and fatigue, Kaden complied with Drex's instructions. Therefore, Drex went a little easier on him than he had two days ago and allowed him to stop after half an hour, giving him a minute to catch his breath and drink some water.

He then retrieved the stick that he had dropped to the floor when dealing with his padawan's impertinence and said: "Now let's try this again. I attack, and you perform the defensive move I taught you. Ready stance."

Kaden had fully expected to be told to repeat the set. So when Drex picked up the stick and instructed he take up a ready stance, the boy did so immediately and without complaint. Unfortunately, he was now tired, sore and not very agile. "Ahh!" he hissed as the stick caught him. Drex was correct, it didn't hurt too much, but still it smarted. Soresu did not come naturally to him, not at all, but he was anything if not tenacious and he only copped it once more before finally getting the move correct.

"That was well done," Drex said approvingly, smiling at Kaden. "Tomorrow I will show you how to use aerials in order to follow up on this. I will book us the trampolines. If that goes well, we can try the move with sabers next. Now off to the mineral baths. Maybe I should give you a massage, too."

Like most padawans, aerials were a favourite of Kaden's and despite his discomfort, he brightened a little at the thought. "I think," he said wincing as he pulled on his cloak, "that I am beyond helping. My arms hurt, my legs hurt, my ass hurts and I hurt from that stupid stick," Kaden told Drex. His tone was not whiny; it was more one of resignation.

"Well, I'm not claiming you will be fine by tonight because that would be a blatant lie," Drex said wryly. "But you will feel better after the mineral baths and a massage. And I will give you some bruise balm later. It also helps with sore bottoms."

Other than to offer a nod in recognition, the boy did not comment. Instead, he simply followed his master towards the mineral pools. This time the state of his backside actually garnered a sympathetic look. Granted, it was from a much younger padawan in an adjacent pool but still, Kade felt almost as if he were wearing a badge of honour as he slid himself into the pool trying to pretend that it didn't hurt a bit. Yeah. "Ahh!" he hissed quietly to himself when his back was towards the girl in question. "Force! You can't keep doing this to me, it's gonna cause some sort of long term damage, if not to my ass, to your hand," the boy said in a voice that was barely a whisper, but it was clear that he was not entirely serious, not entirely …

Drex smiled. "Your concern is touching," he replied. "If you are that worried about the wear and tear on my hands, maybe you should stop giving me reason to do 'this' to you."

He sat on the edge of the pool behind Kaden and started kneading his neck muscles gently.

"Well, it's not like I did it on purpose," the boy muttered, but had to concede that the man had a point. He winced slightly as Drex started on his neck muscles although it was nothing, comparatively speaking.

"I would like to go out into the city with you during the next weekend," Drex told his padawan. "We will go to the South Pole district and stay in a boarding house for one night, incognito. That part of the city is a major hub of organised crime, but also a popular entertainment district. I want you to become familiar with it because chances are we are going to have dealings there at some point."

"The South Pole district?" The name didn't ring a bell, but then again, there was a lot Kaden had to learn about Coruscant. The idea of a night spent undercover, however, had his complete attention. "Oh, count me in, that sounds awesome. What sorts of things will we be looking out for?" the boy asked, intrigued enough to forget about the pain Drex was causing him.

"We don't have any specific objectives," Drex replied. "We're not being sent by the Council. This was my own idea. I want you to become more familiar with transport on this planet, with various segments of society, the way business is done; even entertainment. All this will become useful to you at some point, and it is something you do not learn in classes. We will tour the shops, the cafes, the markets. We will only be able to leave on Saturday morning if all your school work is done, though, so please stay on top of your homework this week."

Drex thought that such activities were at least as educational as spending the weekend on workouts, meditations and lessons - or more so.

"I will!" Kade assured the man eagerly. It would mean forfeiting his free time and evening at the padawan's lounge on Friday, but it was a sacrifice Kaden was more than willing to make if it meant being allowed to leave the Temple and learn more about the planet. "Ahh, eeesh!" he hissed, rolling his shoulder forward in an effort to lessen the force Drex was putting on that particular muscle. They were silent for a moment, then Kade thought of something. "I only own one civilian outfit. Can we stop by at the commissary on the way home?" he asked.

"Sure," said Drex. "Come to think of it, I could use one or two new outfits, too. I'd be grateful if you could help me pick some. I'll have to rely on others where colours are concerned. I've been told that pink, for example, would look dreadful, besides being embarrassing."

He removed his attention from Kaden's neck to his upper arms next, carefully loosening the taut muscles.

Again Kaden flinched as Drex started on a new area, but the boy endured; it was painful but it was going to help and he knew it. Despite his pain, he had to snort at the mental picture his master's words conjured up. "Men don't wear pink as a rule. – Uh, at least not in this culture, I mean, I am sure it's perfectly acceptable in others," he hastily tacked on after having been scolded by his teachers for being "culturally egocentric." "Besides, pink would probably look a bit like a speeder wreck with your gold skin, not that I'm an expert on fashion or anything. Force, maybe we should drop in and pick up Raven," he suggested after some thought.

By the time Drex was through with him the padawan felt as if he'd been run down by a low-flying speeder, but he stood and bowed in any case. "Thank you, master. My arms haven't forgiven me yet, but my legs aren't as bad," he admitted as he towelled off and dressed.

Ten minutes later they entered the commissary, Kaden still walking a little stiff-legged, and Drex with his usual unhurried gait. With the help of a more fashion-savvy Knight, the pair left with enough clothing to meet their needs. Drex had been advised to stick with mostly black and silver items whilst Kaden settled on a simple pair of jeans, t-shirt and a camel coat which he hoped would help conceal his lightsaber. It was then that a thought occurred to him, but given they had company he waited until they reached their quarters before asking. "You are planning to let me have my lightsaber on Saturday aren't you?"

"No," Drex said calmly. "If I deem your behaviour inacceptable enough to warrant confiscating your saber, it will never be for less than a week. I want to see some real improvement before I give it back to you. Which includes workouts that don't involve me having to spank you in order for you to comply with my instructions without complaint. And more than one of them."

"What? But, I'm leaving the Temple. I'm a Jedi, a Jedi is never without their weapon," Kade stated, but was careful to keep his tone within the realm of acceptable.

"Oh, yes, we are," Drex said matter-of factly. "For any number of reasons. I am not planning on leaving your side anyway, so you'll be fine. Besides, it's a training saber. It's not as if it will be any help if there is a real attack."

"No, but it will deflect a blaster bolt, and Force knows I've had enough training on defensive maneuvers over the last few months to last me a lifetime. Please, I promise I'll behave for the rest of my padawanhood, I give you my word I will obey and won't question any more of your training sessions," Kade tried. He absolutely did NOT want to leave the Temple without his lightsaber.

"Yes, well, if you keep your word, you will have your lightsaber back sometime next week and not lose it again," Drex replied mildly. "I daresay we will not be attacked by blasters. And in the unlikely event that we are, you have me to protect you plus your ability to dodge. No, padawan. No means no. Whining will not get you far, although it might yield a few less than desirable results."

The boy squared his jaw. He was entirely unamused by this but had to admit that he had half expected as much. His ass still hurt from earlier, so he rolled over to his stomach and tried releasing into the Force the frustration that being told 'NO' repeatedly was causing. Kaden knew he needed to learn to accept and obey orders without complaining, but it was just so hard when it came to his lightsaber. Drex was sure doing a good job at giving him incentives, though!


	5. Chapter 5

The next few days passed by without incident. Sure, Kade was not happy at having to endure tisks and tutts from his fellow Jedi due to his lack of lightsaber, but by now he was actually becoming used to it. And with Drex's help at releasing his frustrations into the Force, he was not nearly as reactive as he had been the first couple of times he lost his weapon, which the boy recognised as a small win in and of itself. He had also endured each gym session without earning himself round three, because after round two had left him unable to sit comfortably until the next day, the boy didn't dare complain. He still felt frustration, and still struggled to perform the Soresu moves his master was trying to teach him, but he did so without an attitude.

"I'm back," he called as he entered their quarters for lunch on Friday. "I have a stack of homework and it really is going to take every second of my free time today to finish. Even then I'm not sure I can complete it all. Would you let me complete some of the less important stuff, like reading biology chapters, for Sunday night?" he asked hopefully, upon finding Drex in the kitchen, pulling two plates of food he'd ordered from the dining hall from their cooker.

"Let's go through your work after lunch," Drex, who really wanted Kaden's homework done before their trip into the city, proposed. "Maybe I can help you with a few things, which would make it go faster. We can also limit ourselves to a short workout today. With your saber this time."

Kaden had made some progress during the past days. Drex had not "tortured" him much; rather, he had put in a session on the trampolines and another one in which they had tried defensive aerials on solid ground. Kaden still found it difficult not to turn every move into an attack, but he had applied himself. Drex knew how hard it had been for him to keep a lid on his temper. He hoped it wasn't too soon to let him try the new moves with a saber.

Kade's face fell a little. He had hoped that by getting to put off some of the reading for Sunday night, he would be able to slack off a bit, but that had backfired spectacularly. Now not only would he be under the pump, Drex would practically be supervising. Suppressing a sigh, the boy nodded. "Yeah, I could use your help, actually. Especially with biology. We moved on to electromagnetic radiation and the relationship between it and living tissue. Please, please just kill me now," he said melodramatically. However, when Drex mentioned he'd get to use his lightsaber today, all thoughts of homework went out the window. "You really mean it! I'll behave, I swear it!" And he really was going to do his best, although the boy always did. After all, he rarely planned to misbehave. He just found himself up to his neck in misbehaviour before he could dig his way out.

Drex helped Kaden with his homework for about two hours, then took him to the gym, taking Kaden's lightsaber with him.

"Alright, let's see if you can maintain your balance with an ignited saber during the moves we've practiced," he said. "If you can, I will start attacking you and you block."

It felt so good to have his lightsaber back in his hands that the boy had to stop and take a few breaths to calm himself lest Drex take it off him before he'd even ignited it. He stumbled on the first couple of tries, but by the fourth attempt he had the first move down. It was the same for the other moves: he would stumble a little on the first few attempts, but once he had calmed himself, he managed to execute each and kept his balance.

When Drex advanced an attack, however, his block increased in power and threw his balance off, and he hit the floor. "I know, I know," he said, holding up a hand to stave off the lecture, and without being told, extinguished his blade, knelt and closed his eyes. He wanted to show Drex that he was making an effort to put his master's teachings into practice, and taking a moment to centre himself and regroup had never gotten him into trouble before.

Drex was very pleased with the progress Kaden was making and the self-restraint he was showing, and he told him as much as they made their way back to their quarters a little while later.

"I don't expect perfection," he said. "What's important is for you to actively deal with your frustration and aggression, and you're making a lot of progress in that area. I'm really pleased with you, padawan."

Although he didn't show it as exuberantly as many apprentices might have, Kaden couldn't hide that hearing Drex was pleased with him made him feel good. He had worked hard at controlling his frustrations this week, and it had not been easy given that he'd lost his weapon. "Thanks," he replied, attempting to sound humble. It was on the tip of his tongue to ask for his lightsaber back, but he refrained, not wanting to ruin his streak by being scolded and lectured on patience. He was patient, sometimes…

He spent the rest of that evening on homework, stopping only to eat some dinner and to ask for his master's help when he hit the biology section. He hated biology. "This sucks. Who cares about electromagnetic radiation, when am I ever going to use this stuff anyway. I mean really, when?" he griped.

"You'd be surprised," Drex replied, "what kind of weapons, technology and environmental damage you might end up being confronted with in your career. Having a thorough understanding of science helps. A lot. I'll give you some practical examples while we work on this. It might help your motivation to see what use your knowledge may be."

"Well, I'm happy to risk being surprised if it means I don't have to endure this," Kade stated wryly, gesturing towards the biology work on his datapad, but knew it was pointless to argue so did not persist.

Much to his surprise Drex's examples did indeed garner his interest in a subject that he felt, until now, was a total waste of his time. Unsurprisingly, he found that listening to his master's knowledge of different weapons and environmental damage was by far more enjoyable than reading the dry text from his reader.

When it was half an hour until curfew and he still had a little reading left to go, Kade pushed his datapad aside and glanced over at Drex. "C'mon, I only have half a chapter left, can I save it for tomorrow or Sunday?" he asked, hoping to spend a little time watching holo.

"Not if you want us to go into town as planned," Drex replied calmly. "I want to leave early tomorrow since it will be quite a trip by public transport. I'm not sure yet what we are going to do tomorrow night. And Sunday night, you will definitely be tired. Do it now."

The boy blew out a long sigh in way of response, slapped a hand on his datapad and unenthusiastically slid it over once again. He was sick of reading. By the time he finally finished that chapter, he was well and truly through with homework, but at least it was done.

Kade stood, stretched tall and groaned with pleasure as his back straightened out. A quick glance at his watch told him that it was almost time to get ready for bed, so he stuffed his datapad under his arm and headed for the shower.

Ten minutes later he emerged clad in a clean pair of sleep pants and scratched absent-mindedly at his bare chest. Drex was showering, so he seized the opportunity and flicked on the holo, turning the volume down low so as not to be obtrusive.

Drex emerged from the shower a while later. "Come on, let's do our evening meditation," he said, flicking off the holo with a wave of his hand.

Kaden felt a brief surge in the Force, blinked, then blinked again when he realised that Drex had switched it off on him. He twisted on their sofa to face his master, bemused.

"I will wake you up early tomorrow," Drex continued, unmoved. "You really need to get some sleep. It's going to be a long day."

Going to the South Pole took four hours unless you had your own spaceship and took the fast route through the stratosphere, which Drex had no intention of doing. For one thing, it would have required him to enlist a pilot; for another thing, he wanted Kaden to gain real-life experience. Using public transport would take them across various sectors of Coruscant and require them to change shuttles at several much-frequented hubs. It was far from boring and very educational, in Drex's opinion.

They knelt down for their evening meditation which was something that Kaden always looked forward to. It gave him a chance to communicate with Drex on a level that he otherwise struggled to achieve. It was also very relaxing, and typically it helped him sleep peacefully. Yeah, not tonight! The boy was uncharacteristically restless! He tossed, turned, stuck a leg out and even put the pillow over his head but nothing worked. Eventually he sat up and was about to pad into the common room when Drex entered.

"I can't sleep," Kaden said in way of greeting.

"Why not?" asked Drex, moving to sit on the edge of Kaden's bed.

"Too much going on." Kade sat back on his bed.

"Like what?" asked Drex. "I don't assume that it's the thought of your biology homework that's keeping you from falling asleep."

"No." His lip curled slightly at that. "Tomorrow, I guess." Kade didn't like to admit to any sort of weaknesses, so stating that he was excited, and, possibly a bit anxious was difficult for him.

"Well, we haven't been out for as long yet," Drex said. "Nor have we been as deep into the city as we're going to be tomorrow. You had better be well-rested. Would you like me to help you fall asleep?"

"Yeah, thanks." Kaden wasn't typically the needy sort, but tonight he was excited about their 'mission' tomorrow, and it was making him feel uncharacteristically restless. He accepted the sleep compulsion gratefully. He leant into Drex's side and closed his eyes. Again, this was unusual for Kaden, but he wanted the comfort. Besides, nobody was here to see it!

Drex smiled at the warring emotions emanating from Kaden. He sat with his padawan until he had fallen asleep, then gently lowered the boy onto his pillow and quietly left the room.


	6. Chapter 6

Kade woke early the next morning. He had a few questions and was pleased to see that his master was already up when he entered their common room. "Morning," he greeted the man whilst scrubbing sleep from his eyes. "Want me to make breakfast, or do you have other plans?" was the first one that came to mind, but then, the boy was pacing himself.

"Good morning," Drex said with a smile. "Take a shower and get dressed, please. Pack a small bag with a change of clothes, a pair of pyjamas and whatever toiletry items you need. We'll grab some breakfast at the shuttle station."

This was what many working residents of Coruscant did, and he wanted his padawan to learn about their ways.

"A-Allriggghttt," Kade said through a yawn, still half asleep as he went back into his room.

Fifteen minutes later the boy emerged clad in the civilian gear they had picked out yesterday, a small travel pack slung casually over his shoulder.

When Drex exited his room the boy did a double take. Sure, he had seen the man dressed similarly before when they had gone into the Tchennik sector with Eeth and Raven, but he was still not accustomed to seeing his usually almost regal looking master looking so, well, so casual. "I'm ready," Kade stated, hiding his surprise well. He snatched a handful of sweet biscuits from their cupboard. Then he followed Drex from their quarters. "So, if we are acting incognito, what are our identities?" he asked as they made their way through the corridors.

"I don't think we need secret identities," Drex replied. "Even if we were identified as Jedi, it would not really cause any harm. After all, we are not on a mission. For the sake of practice, though, let's try to avoid it. But don't address me as 'master'. Just call me Drex. The name is common enough, as is yours. In the unlikely event that anyone asks, you're from off-world and I'm a friend of your family showing you around Coruscant. On the whole, though, people on Coruscant don't tend to ask too many questions."

"Got it." Kade raced ahead towards the turbolift and entered his code which would grant them access to the public transport platform. As Drex entered the lift, his coat flicked aside and Kaden noticed for the first time that he was only carrying one lightsaber. He hadn't even bothered to bring his. "Master!" he exclaimed, completely forgetting his edict on address. "You didn't even bring my lightsaber! I know I'm being punished, but for Force's sake, you carry it in the temple, why not NOW!?" he practically hissed. He didn't want the others waiting around to hear his words. Not that they didn't sense his emotions: the boy was gutted.

"Why should I?" Drex asked mildly. "There will not be any opportunity for you to use it. Now shall we grab a shuttle, or would you rather return to our quarters and vent your frustrations?"

"No! But…." Kade frowned. "How do you know I won't need it, it's not like you're a seer," he remarked, then, upon seeing the expression on his masters face, lowered his gaze; he didn't want to go back to their quarters after all.

"No, but I usually have a certain sense of danger," Drex replied. "Besides, while the South Pole region might be a bit seedy, it's not as if we are going to a war zone or anything."

The lift doors hissed open and admitted them to a walkway that took them to a moderately large public transport hub. "Moderately large", in terms of Coruscant, of course meant "enormous" according to other planets' standards.

"We need to take the southbound shuttle line XG," Drex told Kaden. "We will get off at the terminus, which is Coruscant's largest and most crowded transport hub, to board a trans-Coruscant shuttle to Demisset. Please find us the right platform and let me know when we pass a food stall that sells coffee and buns."

"Alright," Kade replied a little more tersely than intended. After all, he was not at all happy with Drex for leaving his lightsaber behind. He felt like a civilian, an unarmed civilian at that! He wasn't willing to say as much, though, as he was pretty sure Drex would drag him back to their quarters; benched before they'd even started, yeah, no!

The XG line was easy enough to find although given that Kaden accidentally led them to the wrong side, they were forced to make a run for the southbound route and subsequently missed out on coffee and buns. "Sorry," Kade sent across their bond. He felt stupid for getting it wrong but the place was just so huge! When they reached the terminus, the boy wanted to retract that thought as this was even bigger! "Watch it," he hissed as someone bumped into him. He looked left, then right, then up, only to be knocked forward again by a reptiloid rushing to board the transport they'd just exited.

"Take my arm and find us an eatery," Drex advised Kaden. "We are both hungry by now, and there is no rush. The trans-Coruscant shuttles leave from a different level anyway. There's the whole range of food options here, so it's your choice."

Eternally grateful for the direction, Kaden immediately took his masters arm and led him through the crowds towards the food courts. There, he found them two seats amongst a host of beings from different species, some of which the boy could identify, and some of which he didn't have a clue! Having learned from previous outings that staring only got him into trouble, Kade kept his gaze on the table where their menu was scribed. There wasn't much in the way of fruit or cereal here, so the boy punched in a couple of orders for bubba fries and hoped that his master would not kick his ass for ordering that for breakfast.

Drex questioned Kaden about drinks and other menu options and ended up complementing their bubba fries with a sweet dumpling, some coffee for himself and, for lack of fruit juice, lemonade for his padawan. There would almost certainly have been better breakfast options, this being an extremely busy hub that offered about everything in terms of street food, but his padawan had no way of knowing that.

"Take your time and look around, padawan," Drex advised Kaden while they waited for their food. "The food courts are normally made up of dozens or even hundreds of different food sellers that are barely distinguishable from each other. Most people who eat here are regulars, so they know their way about. Make use of the occasion and try to learn as much about this place as you can. We will probably pass by here quite frequently."

The lemonade was a welcome treat, as was the sweet dumpling which Kaden found absolutely delicious and ended up eating most of, not that Drex seemed to mind; the man ate like a bird when compared to his ravenous apprentice. The padawan glanced from one food stall to the next, tracking those that seemed to fit in and noting where they went, all the while doing his best to remember subtle differences that would single them out next time. It wasn't easy but he was trying.

"Alright, now we need the trans-Coruscant shuttle to Demisset," Drex told Kaden after they had finished eating and were getting ready to leave the food court. "These are faster and more comfortable than the normal shuttles. We need to buy tickets and book seats at the ticket office. The office and the platforms are on level 138. Look for the sign to the lifts and take us there."

"Level 138, sure, piece of cake," Kaden said with far more confidence than he actually felt and tossed their disposable food packages into the recycler as he led Drex from the eatery.

As it turned out, there were several trans-Coruscant shuttles that led to different sections in Demisset, but with Drex's help, and a little luck on Kaden's part, they managed to find the one they wanted and were soon on their way. "You weren't kidding, this is much better," the boy commented, stretching out his legs comfortably. So far they had been forced to stand, crushed into shuttles that were far too crowded for even the smallest of beings, but this was spacious, roomy even, comparatively speaking.

It took a couple of hours to reach the area of Demisset they were after, but the trip was pleasant enough. "This is it," Kade announced as their shuttle landed on a crowded platform.

"Alright," Drex said, standing and following Kade out. "Now we take the tube to Anchanang, which is our destination. The tube is not actually an underground line; it simply runs through very deep levels of the city. So, basically, the tunnels have been drilled through the remains of thousands-of-years-old housing. There are a few areas on Coruscant that have such systems. The South Pole region is one of them. When we arrive at Anchanang, we will look for a boarding house and have lunch."

The tube was easy enough to find: there was an access platform right outside the terminal at Demisset. It was very crowded still, so as he had done before the boy took his master's arm discretely and helped him towards the exit where he bought them two tickets for the tube. Of course Kade knew his master was more than capable, but he had been told that guiding the man through crowded areas would speed up their travel. Besides, he really was eager to help his master. He just didn't want to become bothersome by offering help when no help was needed.

As it turned out the trip to Anchanang was anything but boring, and Kaden was fascinated by the scenery. It looked like a housing graveyard; so many old dilapidated homes. He spotted the occasional signs that some of the more preserved homes were being used by squatters, but apart from that, the place was ruins. "Why don't they make something of this, instead of leaving it to rot?" he asked curiously.

"The air on these levels is too bad, and they are infested by vermin," Drex replied. "In fact, they had to move the tube upwards several times already. Most of these houses are completely filled up by junk and garbage anyway."

When they arrived in Anchanang, they took a lift to the upper levels and emerged onto a pedestrians' walk in a crowded street with shops, restaurants, hotels, bars and other establishments, many of which looked rather seedy. Even though it was daytime, blinking neon signs were everywhere and there was a constant stream of people in all directions.

"Find us a hotel or boarding house," Drex advised Kaden. "Make sure it's not a brothel. There's a number of those in this street, but there are respectable hotels, too."

The boy blushed at Drex's mention of a brothel. He was at that awkward stage where girls were beginning to appeal to him in strange ways, Raven being the most recent. Despite having been coached through meditations to help, he still sometimes had trouble controlling his body which, much to his great embarrassment, seemed to have a mind of its own at the most inopportune of times. He feigned a cough, scratched at the back of his head and forced his mind to focus on his job. He was a Jedi padawan and his master had given him a task. Said task was nothing to do with the leggy brunette with large breasts passing by, nor was it anything to do with brothels! "Uh, o-okay, I, yeah let's go this way," he said and, after taking his masters arm, moved with the crowds until they came across a small but surprisingly clean-looking hotel. "Solices," he read for Drex's benefit. "This is the only one that doesn't have stains on the cement or broken glass so far. It looks clean inside as well."

Drex, in fact, knew both the area and the hotel, but he wanted to let Kaden explore on his own. He was pleased with the boy's choice.

"Yes, that's a good one," he agreed. "Let's check in."

He rented a double room with two single beds and a refresher. The room was small, clean and functional. Having spent his entire life at the Jedi Temple, the small room was almost comforting to Kaden. Given that Drex was blind, Kaden took the bed that was closer to the window and was about to open the cooler to check out what they had, if anything, when Drex was heading for the door once again, intending to look for a place to have lunch.

Again, Drex left it to Kade to pick. "You might want to head down Yunarus street, to the right," he advised the boy. "It's the best place for cafes and restaurants in the sector."

The street outside was loud, busy and smelled of fumes, not all that different to other parts of Coruscant, but a huge contrast when compared to the Jedi temple. "Yunarus street," Kade repeated, and looked around for something that would point them in the right direction. Eventually he found a café called "Yarra's on the Yunarus" so he knew they were on the right street although the food they served did not look at all appetising: far too much green and, Force, some of it was still moving. It took Kaden twenty minutes to single out a café that sold food that was both hot and brown. "Mekkoi's. It smells spicy and looks pretty clean. Is this okay?" he asked.

"For me, yes," Drex replied. "For you, about half the menu will not be edible. Mekkoi's is a chain led by Twi'lek. Their stomachs are not identical to human stomachs, but not entirely different either. We can give it a try, but make sure you tell the waiter you're human and they will give you a different menu."

"Hey, I'll try anything once, although I do prefer it if I am not forced to chase it around the plate." Kade took a seat opposite Drex, then he informed the droid waiter that he was human. With a click of a button, the menu on his side of the table switched. Kade ordered a huge place of some spicy bean and meat dish with extra chilli and a huge glass of kivi flower juice. He had missed juice SO much!

When their food arrived and they had both sated their first appetite, Kaden looked over at Drex thoughtfully. He had wanted to ask the man some things, but he was finding it difficult and embarrassing to bring up. " Can I ask you something that's a bit personal?"

"Sure," Drex said, taking a sip of his ice tea. After all, as Kaden's master, answering personal questions was in the job description.

"I was thinking about what you said before, you know? About the brothel..." the boy began, his face already heating. "It's just that I'm curious about having sex. I mean, I want to. As Jedi are we, uh, you know, permitted to, um, experiment?" Finally! he had gotten it out!

Drex raised his eyebrows. Usually, such topics were covered in crèche education although, admittedly, some children, especially boys, were too embarrassed to pay attention properly.

"Technically, it's not forbidden," he said. "We are not supposed to hold strong attachments and we are not allowed to get married. Most Jedi aim at being celibate since having sex means indulging one's passions and bodily desires in ways that will not bring us closer to the Force. That said, having the urge to have sex is natural, and most Jedi feel the need to give in to it at some point or other. This is no cause for concern, as such, but it should not become a habit. If it does, it will usually either lead to the kind of attachment we are not supposed to have, or to an incessant desire for casual sex, possibly with prostitutes. That, in turn, contributes to the exploitation of other beings. Generally, we try not to overindulge our bodily desires but we can hardly ignore them altogether either."

The expression on Kaden's face was priceless. His cheeks were so red that his eyes were almost watering, and he was eternally grateful that he had chosen such a hot meal lest those around him think something was wrong with him. "Uh, I understand, but," he said, so embarrassed that his body started to feel cold despite the heat in his face. "The desire is strong with me, I mean, with girls and all. It's almost like I feel if I try it then it won't seem like such a big deal anymore. Um, how, uh …. How old is old enough to, uh, you know? And," he flushed redder if such a thing were possible. "Have you done it?" He wasn't sure if he'd asked Drex about this before or not, but if he had he had apparently been too embarrassed at the time to remember the answer.

"Well, I told you about the time I fell in love with a fellow knight," Drex replied. "We didn't end up having sex but it was a rather close call. The main reason for us to postpone the actual act was the fact that she was not using contraception and I didn't want to get her pregnant. Which is one of the reasons for which I very strongly advise you to not even consider having sex until you're quite a few years older and more responsible than you are now. Nitka and I never got around to having sex because we both came to the conclusion that, if we were to stay with the Order, there was no future for the kind of intimate relationship we really would have liked to have. We both decided to stick with the Order and its ideals."

Kaden thought about that. Sex was a subject that seemed to fascinate him at the moment and he couldn't imagine being presented with the opportunity and actually knocking it back. Drex was right, though, and it was that strength of conviction that underpinned the fact that Kade wasn't yet ready; he was just coming of age and was curious. His body was changing and he was feeling different things, but he lacked the maturity to deal with it. "Do you ever see her now? Nitka, I mean?" he asked when they had been silent for a minute or so.

"Occasionally," Drex replied. "The sexual attraction has faded long ago. Both of us have had several padawans of our own by now and have been on countless missions, sometimes for a long time. When we both are at the Temple, we sometimes meet, as friends. Jedi are allowed to have friends, after all. And in case you were wondering: We are also allowed to deal with our sexual needs. It is not always possible to suppress them or to release them into the Force, especially for those of us who are young. To put it more plainly: should you ever feel a desire to masturbate, you would not be doing anything forbidden. It should just not become an obsession."

Kade listened intently, then his expression went from interested to wide-eyed to outright horror. Oh, no way, don't go there, don't, d …. Oh Force, he went there, the boy thought, and buried his face in his hands. His stomach went cold and his mouth dry. "Uh! I – Force, Master. How embarrassing!" was all the boy managed, and he was forced to take a few big gulps on his juice. The truth was, he had been setting a record over the last few months and had been feeling guilty over how often he was indulging. He wanted to ask Drex, really he did, but there were certain things a young boy needed time to work up courage to ask on his own, and this was one of them.

"No, it isn't," Drex replied peacefully. "It is about what your body needs, after all. But we don't have to talk about it if you don't want us to. You were the one who brought up the topic, though. So don't blame me."

He smiled at Kaden and had another bite of his pasta casserole which was really rather good.

"Blame? Where is the blame here?" Kade shot back, his face still burning with embarrassment. He was more than happy to leave the topic alone and concentrated on eating his meal and reducing the heat in his face.

By the time they were finished, Kade was comfortably full. He paid for their orders and exited to find Drex already waiting for him outside. "Want to go to the casino?" he asked, shaking the plastic flyer he'd plucked from the counter on the way out so Drex would know he was holding it. He had never been to a casino before. Of course, the Jedi were not allowed to gamble for obvious reasons, but the boy was curious.

"Not particularly, no," Drex replied. "But if you want to have a look around, I have no objections. We will not play, though."

"No, it's okay, apparently nothing really happens until after twenty-one hundred in any case," Kade stated, placing the flyer on a table and securing it with a salt shaker. "We could go back to the hotel and sit in front of the holo, they have some great music channels also." The tone of his voice was clearly teasing.

"We could do that," Drex agreed solemnly. "Or you could do it, and I'll go to the music market. There's a hologames market on top of that, five storeys. But I suppose watching music channels at the hotel would be more entertaining."

"Nope, it wouldn't," Kade replied evenly. He didn't have many credits, but he had enough to get something small. "Can we walk there or do we need to find transport?"

"It's about half an hour's walk," Drex replied. "Since we are skipping our workout today, walking will be fine. We need to head down the street and then turn right into Tumaree, a main thoroughfare. It should be the next intersection or the one after it."

The Anchanang markets were among the largest on Coruscant's. What you could not find here, you were not likely to find anywhere, with the possible exception of some of the more seriously illegal merchandise that could only be found on the lowest levels. There was everything from antique furniture to - Drex not having lied about it - hologames, from music to spices, from clothes to household goods, from jewellery to weapons. It was a city all on its own.

As always Drex's instructions were clear, precise and to the point, which went a ways to helping Kaden navigate. He found Tumaree easily enough although, since it was the main thoroughfare, it was jam-packed with people coming and going which made it difficult for him to take the lead and guide. In the end, he took to walking off-side, using his master's size as a deterrent. It worked well, and with Kade steering and Drex's imposing presence, the two managed to reach the intersection where they were finally able to branch off towards the market entrance. Holy shit, that was, yeah, something else, the padawan thought as they made their way into the markets. It was still crowded, but nothing like traversing Tumaree.

Feeling like a seasoned professional, Kade quickly procured them a map of the area and began scanning it for points of interest. "The first few levels are mainly furniture and household goods," he explained. Of course he assumed that Drex probably already knew this, but he was learning fast how to find these things out for himself; a skill that many of his peers had not yet begun to learn.

Drex nodded. "This place has dozens of levels, and also sectors," he explained. "It's roughly the form of a square, divided into four smaller squares which are marked as sectors A, B, C and D. Apparently, they are also color-coded, but I can't be much help with that. Furniture is in C. Music and games are in D, and also quite a bit higher. So look for the signs that point towards D and upwards."

When Kade had found the correct sector, Drex directed him to a cafe that was located on level eighteen, right below the music and above the hologames, and said: "If you like, you can take a look at the games while I go and look for music. We could meet up in an hour at this cafe. Would you be fine with that or would you rather stick with me?"

Would he be fine with that?! "Hell yes! Thanks!" Kade replied, honestly surprised that he was being allowed to venture off alone, and equally grateful for the level of trust his master had in him. Granted, Kaden was a lot more autonomous than many of his peers, and given that Drex put an emphasis on practical knowledge and experience gained outside the classroom, the boy was a lot more street-savvy than he might have been otherwise. He took note of the café and was about to take off for the lifts that would lead him down a level to the hologames when he paused. "I know you can find it on your own, but I can take you to the music section first," the boy offered, honestly wanting to help.

Drex smiled. "Thanks, but I'll manage," he said. "I'll take my time on the way. Have fun."

He firmly believed that young people needed a certain amount of independence and an opportunity to make their own experiences in life. Even if they ended up making mistakes, those would enable them to learn. He did, of course, hope that the day would go by without such a learning experience. But really, this was the most reputable part of the South Pole area, especially at daytime. And besides, Kaden had his comlink. Drex was not worried about him. He headed for the music section at a leisurely pace and asked a droid for help. Soon, he was listening to some of the latest releases of Alderaanian mathematical music.

Meanwhile, Kade had found the games sector. To say that it was enormous was a gross understatement. Kade had never seen anything like this before and he honestly did not know where to start. He stood just outside the lift for the longest moment in an effort to get his bearings then took off.

"No way! The walking dead parts one through five with all the expansions, for fifteen credits, you have got to be joking!" he overheard two Geran boys who were standing in the aisle opposite exclaim. This was the exact game he'd been searching for and it had obviously been mispriced; ordinarily, the single game pack was 10 credits, so to find the entire series with expansions for fifteen was unheard of.

Kaden looked at the fifteen credits in his hand. He'd never be able to afford the series at the regular price, even if he saved for a year. Then he had an idea. It wasn't the most Jedi-like thing to do, but, well, he was never going to get another chance to find something like this, and if he was careful, no one would be any the wiser. He turned his back to the pair so as not to look obvious. Then, very carefully, he toppled the stand, causing an avalanche of game packs to hit the floor around them.

"Beec! Eren! What did I say about touching things! Pick them up and be quick about it. I don't want security over here watching us because you two can't control yourselves!" boomed a Geran woman, who Kade suspected was a parent or guardian.

The two boys just stood there, as if trying to figure out how the hell that had happened when neither of them were in reach of the stand. Then, deciding that no one would believe them, they exchanged a confused glance, placed the game pack aside and got to work.

Kaden was quick to act and before anyone even knew he was there, he had summoned the copy of walking dead and casually made his way towards the checkouts. He couldn't believe he had found this. It was just unbelievable.

… And he was still silently congratulating himself over the find an hour later when he arrived at the cafe to wait for Drex.

"Hello, padawan," Drex said, approaching Kaden with a smile. Sitting down opposite him and placing his bag on the floor, he said: "Could you order me a coffee, please? You may order a drink for yourself, too, if you like to."

When that was done, Drex asked: "How did it go? Did you find anything good?"

"Yeah," Kade replied, placing the game in his master's hands. "It's a copy of all five parts of the walking dead, with expansions!" the boy explained, knowing that this would probably not mean much to his master but, well, he was stoked.

"Sounds riveting," Drex replied wryly. "Have you saved up that much pocket money? As far as I know, these things cost a fortune."

"Nah, it was mispriced, I only had fifteen credits, but still, I can't believe it!" Kade exclaimed, still on a high from his find.

Drex considered this surprising bit of information. He could see how Kaden thought this was fortunate. Whether it was ethical was another question entirely. And, of course, Jedi padawans were held to higher standards than the average teenager.

"Padawan," Drex said quietly, "it seems as if you exploited the fact that this item was mispriced. Do you think this is how a Jedi is expected to act?"

"Ug! Yeah, I did, but," the boy shifted in his seat. "I could never have afforded this if I hadn't. Not even if I saved for a whole year," he said earnestly. He wasn't completely missing the point here, but nor did he want to admit that his actions had not been altogether Jedi-like.

Drex let the matter rest for the moment because there was something else he wanted to know. "Was there any particular reason for you to use the Force earlier?" he asked. At the time he had sensed this, it hadn't felt as if Kade was frightened or under threat. Thus, he had not come to investigate, but he had not forgotten about it either.

By now the boy's exuberance had lessened significantly. Was there a reason he used the Force earlier? Yes, but he didn't want to explain why, so: "Not really," came the hesitant reply. He was doing his best to sound unperturbed here, but was probably failing. He slid the game back across the table and tucked it into his tunic.

The look on Drex's face clearly said that he was unimpressed with this answer. "You sure?" he inquired. He knew perfectly well that Kaden must have had a reason to draw on the Force. This was the boy's last chance to come clean without any threat of punishment involved.

Kaden sighed. He knew from experience that being evasive had never ended well. In fact, it always resulted in being led through a very long conversation wherein Drex made him feel as guilty as humanly possible before he was forced to confess anyway. It was with this in mind that the boy slumped back into his chair. "I used the Force to topple a stand so that the boys who had this would put it down long enough for me to take it," Kaden confessed.

"So not only did you exploit the fact that it was mispriced, you used the Force in order to take it from others who had discovered this before you?" Drex asked, eyebrows raised. "Padawan, your personal wishes notwithstanding, I think you know better than that."

"Yes! But when will I ever get an opportunity like this again?" Kade countered with more confidence than he felt, as evidenced by the fact that his gaze was now locked on the table.

"An opportunity based on actions that you know are wrong?" Drex asked. "Padawan, look at me and tell me what would be the right thing to do now."

Kade's expression was piteous, not that Drex could see it. "Can't you look the other way, just this one time?" the boy pleaded. Kade knew that Drex wanted him to return the game, but he really didn't want to.

Drex had to laugh at that. "Literally speaking, I'm not even looking your way," he remarked wryly.

The corner of Kades lip twitched into a crooked smile at Drex's sense of humour. He had thought to avoid the idiom "turn a blind eye". He had often wondered why the man did not get bionic eyes, but it was his choice and Kaden respected that.

"If I was your father and you an ordinary Coruscant teenager, I might have said yes," Drex continued. "But you know we try to live our lives according to a higher standard. So?"

"So, you want me to return it, then." It was more an accusation than a question. Kaden pulled the game from his tunic, slapping it onto the table.

"This is not about what I want," Drex replied calmly. "I am appealing to your sense of honour and of what's right. If you keep this, you will inevitably squash your guilty conscience every time you play it. Eventually, it will fade. And that can be a dangerous habit to get into."

What could he say to that? Kade wasn't sure, so he remained silent and continued to stare at the table.

Drex leaned back and sipped his coffee, humming quietly to himself. He hoped that Kaden would come to the right conclusions about this, not least because Drex considered this much preferable to hauling him to the store and giving the game back himself, possibly after a huge tantrum of some kind. If necessary, he would have no qualms about doing so, though, and he assumed Kaden knew him well enough by now to know this.

The boy glared at the table for another minute or so, but knew that no matter how hard he tried, he would not actually be able to burn a hole in it simply using his eyes. He looked from his game to Drex and wanted to crack a fit, not only because he would have to return it, but also because deep down Kaden knew the man was right. They were Jedi and Jedi were held to higher standards. Wordlessly, the padawan stood and snatched the game from the table. "Fine," was all he said before striding off towards the lift that would take him down to the games level.

Ten minutes later the boy slumped dejectedly into the chair opposite Drex, his fingers drumming querulously on the table top. He had something on his mind but wasn't sure how to go about asking. He had done the right thing and taken the game to the clerk who had sold it to him. The expression on his face must have been truly piteous, though, because the elderly Twi'lek man had offered it back to him for being honest. Kade was taken aback by the offer and told the man he'd need to ask first, which was exactly what he intended to do just as soon as he found the perfect way to put this. Yeah…

"They told me I could keep it because I was honest and brought it back. Will you allow it?" he finally spoke, deciding that a direct approach sans efforts at manipulation was probably his best bet. He wasn't sure if Drex would let him after the way in which he had gone about obtaining it, but if he didn't ask he'd never know.

Drex gave this question some serious thought. Had it not been for the fact that Kaden had used the Force in order to obtain the copy from others who had found it first, he would have said yes with little hesitation. As it was, he took more time to consider the request.

The boy was practically sweating bullets as second after second ticked on without a reply. He really wanted that game, but understood that Drex was well within his rights to deny it. After all, some less tolerant masters would not allow games at all, let alone after pulling a stunt like that.

"Yes, I will," Drex finally said. "But if I ever catch you using the Force for your personal gain again, there will be serious consequences. Are we clear on that?"

"Yes, Sir. Crystal. Thank you," Kade blurted, then darted from the table for the second time. The clerk had agreed to hold it but only for one hour, so he had to be quick about this.

Ten minutes later Kaden slid into the seat opposite Drex, the game tucked securely in his coat pocket. He didn't know why, but for some reason he no longer felt overjoyed at having gotten his way. In fact, he felt a stab of guilt and even a bit greedy for having been allowed it. He would make it up to the man, he promised himself. Perhaps being a little more diligent with his chores over the next few weeks would be a good place to start. It was with that thought in mind that he cleared their table and returned with a couple of napkins. "Did you find anything interesting in the music section?"

"Oh, yes," Drex replied. "I always find something on the rare occasions that I come here and have the time to explore. In this case, it was a new music style from Alderaan."

He smiled at Kaden. "Why don't we go to the weapons section next?" he asked. "We might be asked to do more investigations in that field soon. It will be useful to know what's on offer here."

"Sure," Kade replied, and after paying for their drinks he re-joined his master at the front of the café and started scanning the map. "We are in sector D. The weapons are in sector A and six levels up," Kade announced and quickly located the lift that would take them there.

They spent a good hour exploring the weapons section and found that a small number of the harder-to-get items were actually making their way into the public market under the guise of artilleries that attracted less attention.

After they had left the markets, Drex gave Kaden a tour of the surroundings; or rather, he told Kade where to go so the boy could take him there. Finally, close to dinner time, they took the tube back to their hotel which, as far as Drex knew, had a decent restaurant in the basement.

The tube ride was by far easier-going than traversing Tumaree, so Kaden arrived at their hotel significantly less flustered than he had been on the trip out.

"Let's just drop off our things in our room and get something to eat," Drex told Kaden. "Or would you prefer to take a shower first?"

"Nah. Let's go eat. I don't know what the restaurant in the basement is like, though. I haven't seen it yet. Have you eaten there before?" Kaden asked, tossing his game onto the bed and turning to face his master. "Because if it's not what we're looking for, we passed a few places on the way to the markets that looked clean enough."

"I have eaten there, a few years ago," Drex replied. "It was quite recommendable then. They had a Corellian chef who was more than good at his job. He might not be there any longer, of course, but I think the place would be clean at least. If you have any specific preferences or want to try something different, though, we could go out just as easily."

"As long as it's not spicy I don't care. I don't think my stomach can handle any more heat after lunch," the boy replied, and after washing his face he pulled on his coat and was ready to go.

Five minutes later the pair exited the lift at the basement level and found a table. The Corellian chef was still with the restaurant, and the menu was so enticing that Drex ordered three courses for both of them. It was a welcome change from the Temple's dining hall, and Drex was looking forward to a quiet, enjoyable meal. Little did he know that their evening was going to be anything but quiet…


	7. Chapter 7

Dinner at the hotel restaurant was excellent. Throughout their appetisers and main course, Drex told Kaden all about Corellian cuisine and the planet of Corellia which he knew quite well. Dessert was particularly good: the cook had experimented with Senchi spices and achieved quite an interesting result.

Halfway through his Senchi cream pie, Drex suddenly snatched up a piece of the conversation that was going on at the table behind him. His features tightened, and he slowly put his spoon down, focussing on the three voices and what they were saying. There was quite a bit of space between the tables and he could not pick up everything, but after a few minutes, he was forced to conclude, from the snippets of conversation that he had overheard, that these people were associated with a Sakiyan ring of organised criminals associated with the illegal arms trade.

"Padawan," he said in a low voice, "can you describe the person sitting behind me and the people he is with?"

Kaden had felt some of Drex's surprise, or even alarm, across their bond and briefly stiffened in response before relaxing once again; he didn't want to draw attention to himself, after all. He continued with their conversation so as not to look obvious, then discretely did as he was asked.

"There are three beings, two Bith, and one Sakiyan," he said quietly, backing up the words with the images he could see from over the man's shoulder. From what little Kaden recalled, both species were uncannily astute. They could sense things and possessed heightened senses compared to most humans, so for him to speak aloud when not absolutely necessary was probably not a good idea.

He also knew that to describe physical aspects of the men's appearances would not help his blind master, so he attempted to do more. "One of the two Bith are eating a garlic fish meal." Kade knew this because he had almost ordered the same dish, but after lunch decided to stick to something a little less harsh. "The other is drinking some sort of red alcohol and speaks with a native accent. The Sakiyan has the most aggressive voice, he also has a cigar sitting by his plate," the boy attempted to explain across their bond and out loud where his ability to communicate across their link became too hazy to be useful.

"I see," Drex murmured. He wondered whether the three might even be connected to Hjorman Weych, a master of organised crime that a number of Jedi had been after for quite a while.

"Kaden, when these people leave, I will follow," he said quietly. "You will go to our room and wait for me there."

"Uh! but," Kae started, then, remembering the situation they were in, tempered his tone and concentrated on communicating across their bond. "Why can't I come and help you?" he wanted to know, and even if his words had been obscured across their bond, his intent would have come across clearly.

"Too dangerous," Drex murmured, the expression on his face and the feelings he conveyed through their bond both underlining the seriousness of this statement. "Sakiyans are not to be trifled with. You have no weapon. And there is no need to go indignant over this fact right now. We do not want to attract attention. Finish your dessert."

As much as the boy wanted to argue that it was his master's fault that he didn't have his weapon, he knew better than to pursue such an argument and simply slumped a little into his chair, projecting his emotions clearly across their bond. It was at that moment that the Bith drinking the red alcohol downed his last gulp and pulled several high denomination notes from his pocket, tossing them onto the table and looking around casually.

Drex waited until the group was leaving the restaurant, taking note of their leader's Force signature so he could pick up the trail. Then he quickly paid for their meal and ushered Kaden out.

"Go upstairs and wait for me in our room," he said quietly. "I promise I'll be back soon. I will not get into hot pursuits or even fights; I will simply follow them inconspicuously, take note of where they are going and send a message to the Temple for someone to pick up their trail. Don't leave your room under any circumstances short of a fire."

"If you're just going to follow them, then why can't I come too?" Kaden hissed quietly as he was led towards the lift that would take him to their room. He was not at all happy about this and his indignation was palpable across their bond.

"Because, among other things, Sakiyan criminals are extremely good at knowing when they are being followed and you, padawan, have no experience with concealing yourself whatsoever," Drex hissed back. "Now go."

"I am almost thirteen years old, you know, I can hide plenty well enough. But even if you doubt me, why can't I follow you? Why do I have to go to our room? It's not that dangerous," the boy countered, his breathing quickening, his brow furrowed and his frustration at the perceived injustice rising.

"You, padawan, are keeping me from following these people," Drex growled, this growl being quite uncharacteristic. He was really losing patience with his padawan. "You will go to our room and meditate on your attitude until I'm back," he ordered sternly. "I don't care if you like it, I still expect you to obey, or you will not see your saber back for a month. And I did pack my hairbrush. Now scoot. I've got to go, and fast."

Kaden had known it was pushing it to continue questioning. He'd never heard his master growl before, and it unnerved him. He backed into the lift, hands raised in silent placation. Drex waited until the lift doors had closed, then hurried off so as not to lose the group's trail. Luckily, at least one of them was drunk so their progress was on the slow side. Even more fortunately, their destination seemed to be in the vicinity; they had neither boarded a speeder nor called a cab.

Meanwhile, an unhappy padawan slunk into the small double room he shared with Drex and sat on the bed. He didn't think this was fair. His place was at his master's side, not locked away in their room like some youngling! The indignation he felt began to rise again. Then he recalled his orders and his shoulders slumped. "Always with the meditating. 'Padawan, you are losing your temper, meditate.' 'Padawan, you are not calm enough to use your lightsaber, meditate.' Meditate, meditate, _MEDITATE_! I spend more time meditating than sleeping!" he ranted to himself whilst pulling off his boots and kicking them into the wall with a satisfying thunk! However, he also recalled his master mentioning that he had bought that damn brush. After a quick peek into the man's duffle confirmed his words, the boy started to get his shit together and was soon kneeling by the wall in a light meditative trance.

He had not been at this longer than ten minutes when he heard the sound of muffled voices through the thin hotel wall. Kaden knew he was supposed to be meditating, and he knew that disobeying would result in the loss of his lightsaber until he was knighted! Among other things. But the voices were sharp and secretive, and when he reached out with the Force to gently probe his noisy neighbours, he felt a sense of foreboding that he had not felt before. Surprised, but no less intrigued, the boy pressed his ear to the wall, hoping to hear something that would explain what he felt. And sure enough, he did.

Apparently, the men next door were arguing over some sort of perceived injustice relating to their "cut" in what, from what Kade could tell, was one of the biggest shipments of illegal weapons and spice inside of ten years. But it was the fact that this shipment was arriving tonight, and they were currently getting ready to rendezvous with their contact that had the boy diving for his commlink. He was just about to punch in Drex's code when a thought occurred to him; Drex was currently tailing three highly sensitive beings. If he called the man, he could give him away; he might even get him captured or worse, killed. Unfortunately, by the time he had completed that thought process the sound of a door slamming next to him jolted him out of his reverie, and he almost stumbled whilst hastily pulling on his boots. Then, after turning his commlink to silent, he clipped it on his belt, grabbed his coat and took off after them.

He planned to tail the men, find out who their contact was and, if he was extremely lucky, where they were going. After that he would return to their room and wait for his master to return. Yeah, the best laid plans of mice and padawans…

Kaden sighed as the small group he'd been following entered a bar. There was no way he was going to be granted access. Unless …? Kaden bolted towards the entrance as he spotted a group of what looked like high-profile traders and their slaves entering behind his quarry. If he was lucky, the door men would assume he was with them as there was one other young female trailing behind. And as fate would have it, they did.

Fifteen minutes later Kaden was seated a little away, but not obviously so, from the group he had entered with and was busy monitoring them.

Given that every other being in the place had a drink of one kind or another, it wasn't long before the bartender approached and gestured curtly and questioningly towards the young girl slave who was sipping at a milky looking concoction. She was human, from what Kade could tell, so he simply nodded. Since an inconspicuous sniff warned the padawan that this was not a benign drink, he had no intention of actually drinking it. However, when the bartender returned a few minutes later and asked if there was anything wrong with the drink he'd made, Kade was forced to take a sip lest he draw attention to himself. It was all he could do not to gasp, but given that he could sense it was not actually poison, at least not of the kind that was going to kill him, he feigned contentment and continued to listen. Well, he tried to, because he started to notice that it was becoming increasingly difficult to focus on the conversation, let alone on the Force.

In the meanwhile, Drex followed the group for a few blocks, carefully keeping track of his surroundings and making sure to draw on the Force in order to conceal himself. Sakiyans were perceptive, and he did not want to attract attention. Finally, the trio entered an apartment building. Access was restricted and controlled by sensors, so Drex stayed outside. He identified his exact position on his commlink and sent a message to the Temple, relating what he had overheard and where the group was currently located. The Council secretary informed him that a few Jedi on an undercover investigation team were currently in the area. One of them would immediately drop by to pursue the matter.

Satisfied, Drex made his way back to the hotel, taking the shortest possible route in order to rejoin his padawan as fast as possible. Suddenly, however, something strange happened: his sense of said padawan across their bond changed drastically. It became foggy in a way that invariably pointed to intoxication, strong sedation or, in rare cases, a head injury. The latter was unlikely, though, because injuries happened more abruptly and were usually preceded by some sense of shock. Still, the other options were worrying enough to have Drex start running – only to realise that his bond with his padawan did not lead him to the hotel at all, but to a bar around the corner. Giving an exasperated sigh, he stopped in front of the bar, waved his hand at the doorman, leaving the man looking slightly bedazzled, and rushed in.

In the meanwhile, Knight Tasha Inmar, whose task it was to tail a key member of a ring of weapons smugglers, was noticing a familiar face in the bar where she was currently lounging in a dark corner; and that was quite an unlikely event, especially since that face belonged to a rather young boy who almost certainly had no business being here. He must be a junior padawan; she dimly recalled having seen him in the dining hall on occasion. Just after she had taken note of his presence, he had a brief exchange with the barkeeper, whereupon he started sipping a bit of his milky white drink. Tasha groaned inwardly and rose from her seat. Waving her slender hips seductively, she made her way to his table, bowed down close and whispered: "Does your master know you are here?"

The longer Kade sat there, the harder he was finding it to focus. He blinked, narrowed his eyes and forced himself to concentrate on the men. If he could just hold out until they said something about the shipment he could get the hell out of dodge. Unfortunately, by the time he got said information, he was having a hard time simply sitting on the chair. He frowned at the drink. He'd barely touched it but whatever it was didn't agree with him. He was just about to attempt getting to the door when a tall, slim human woman that Kade guessed was in her mid-twenties put a hand on his back. She was very pretty, and the boy began blushing at her close proximity. That was until she spoke and all thoughts of attractive girls evacuated his mind immediately. "Uh! Um…" Kade stammered unintelligibly.

By the look on his face, Tasha could tell that the boy was fast losing the ability to think coherently. There was probably no point in asking him questions. Suppressing a sigh, she put an arm around his shoulders, heaved him up and steered him towards the exit where she came face to face with a Jedi master she knew; he had been a member of the High Council at the time of her knighting.

"Is this your padawan, by any chance?" Tasha asked, eyebrows raised.

Kade, for his part, was about to tell the woman that he needed to organise a way back to their hotel when he came face to chest with the imposing sight of his master. "Fuck."

Drex ignored him for the moment, choosing to answer the knight's question. He had recognised her by her Force signature. "He is," he said. "Thank you for picking him up. He had no permission to be here. I apologise if he got in the way of whatever you're doing here."

"No trouble," said Tasha. "You should know that he has been drinking X'Atlix. Not much, but even a little would be sufficient to knock him out. It's not been long; maybe, if you can get it out of his system fast, you can prevent the maximum effect."

"Thank you," said Drex, his forehead creasing in a worried frown. X'Atlix was bad. Before he got into the whys and whens of this, he needed to heed the knight's advice and get Kaden to empty his stomach.

Drex and Tasha gave each other a curt nod of farewell whereupon Tasha returned to her seat. Drex hauled Kaden outside, past the still rather bemused-looking doorman. He proceeded to half-walk, half-carry his disoriented padawan into a dark side alley where he unceremoniously stuck a finger down Kaden's throat until the boy started to vomit. It was not pretty, but Drex preferred this to a trip to the next hospital or, alternatively, one to two days of semi-consciousness and bad hallucinations. Kaden would still feel bad enough as it was, but that was nothing to what he was going to feel like if the full effect of X'Atlix, which was decidedly not safe for human children to consume, kicked in.

Kaden didn't speak again and it was a good thing, too, because his master did not look at all pleased with him, and anything he said in his current state was sure to make it worse. What happened next, however, took him by surprise, Kade tried to struggle as he was put in a headlock, then redoubled his efforts when Drex literally forced his fingers down his throat. The boy spluttered, gagged and was just about to start crying when he began vomiting. Yeah, Drex was correct, this really wasn't pretty. In fact, it was downright disgusting, and to make it worse, once he started, he couldn't stop! By the time he was done, the boy was leaning bonelessly into the man's side and unable to stand on his own. "Master I'm sorry, I have to tell y…." he started, but the action only caused him to start dry-retching over again.

Drex produced a bottle of water and a handkerchief from his belt and handed both to his padawan.

"I am not going to discuss this with you now," he said quietly. "We are going to go back to our hotel room where you will sleep this off. If we are lucky, the worst of it will be over by morning, and all that remains will be a tremendous headache. Come."

He put his arm around his padawan's shoulders and steered him towards the hotel's back entrance. The more inconspicuous their return, the better.

The boy nodded and made a half-assed effort at scrubbing the handkerchief across his face, but otherwise remained silent. Any effort at talking only made him retch qne he did not want to risk throwing up again as he had nothing left to heave other than bile, which burned like a fucker.

By the time they arrived back at their room, Kaden was weak, nauseous, and he reeked of vomit and Force only knew what else he had managed to kneel in when he'd been in the alley throwing up. He stumbled for his bed and fell onto it as Drex locked their door. "The people next door were smuggling spice and weapons, I followed them to find out more," he managed. He groaned, feeling like he'd just had the life sucked out of him and, much to his horror, he had just noticed that his connection to the Force was clouded! He could feel the Force, he knew it was there, but he couldn't access it. It scared him but he honestly didn't have the strength right now to do anything about it. Even blinking was an ordeal. Thankfully, it was short-lived, and he soon passed out.

Despite the smell, Drex left Kaden to sleep. For one thing, getting him showered and changed would have been a major ordeal; for another thing, waking up in his filthy and stinking clothes, with what would be sure to be a splitting headache, was hopefully going to teach him an effective lesson. Needless to say, Drex was planning on adding to that lesson in a significant way. For now, though, he contacted the Temple once again concerning the smugglers, only to find that, true to his suspicion, Knight Tasha Inmar was on their tail already. With that being settled, he went about his usual night-time business, changing into a set of pajamas and kneeling down to meditate.


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: We'd like to thank everyone for their reviews and feedback. Shout out to Ullswater and Zackira for sticking with us, we love to hear from you guys. It's nice to read that people are following our stories and finding them entertaining. We enjoyed writing them the first time, and now we have a chance to edit and make them even better.

SeeThreepeaoh. It's great to hear from you. Thanks for the comments, and for bringing our attention to the fact that we need to add a language disclaimer. This is the language Kaden would use…

* * *

Not surprisingly Kade had an absolutely rotten night's sleep. He was fitful, tossing and turning. Drex must have taken pity on him at some point and sent a sleep compulsion, because at some point during the night, Kaden no longer felt like he was going to writhe himself clean out of his bed.

He had no idea what time it was when he woke next, but he wished he hadn't. He levered open one eye, only to close it again when a beam of merciless light stabbed directly into his brain, immediately liquefying it. He sat up, slowly, and immediately cupped both hands over his ears; his head was going to explode any second, he was quite certain of it. "Ugh. This is bullshit," he complained, his tone languid and barely audible. "What the hell is that smell? Oh." Apparently said smell was coming from him. His clothes were splattered with dried vomit and his hands were filthy from crawling around in the alley.

"You got drunk, padawan," Drex said mildly, opening his eyes from where he had been sitting cross-legged on his bed and meditating. "Quite drunk. Do me a favour and take a shower. And change into some fresh clothes. I'm not too thrilled with the smell either."

"Drunk? Drunk! You've got to be shitting me! I had half a glass of that stuff. Force, I might only be twelve years old but for Force's sake, I'm hardly lithe or weedy. Half a glass of alcohol should not do this to me," Kade said, his voice quiet and calm out of necessity as much as from the fact that he knew to lose his shit with his master over this was not a good way to start. Besides, he was pretty sure that if he spoke too loudly, some of his brain would start seeping out his ears.

"And nonetheless, you were drunk," Drex said with absolute finality. "I think the evidence is speaking strongly in favour of my statement. Do you have any idea what it was that you were drinking?"

"No, I just copied the girl in front of me, she looked human. Plus, I didn't sense anything off with it, at least nothing that shouldn't be there." He leant forward and rested his head in his hands. "Please, can I have something for my head? Because I swear to all that is sacred it's gonna explode if I stand up, and you really don't want that sort of mess in a rented room."

"That stuff," said Drex, "was X'Atlix. It contains a great amount of alcohol, plus a number of other intoxicating substances. It was invented by Hutt. For them, it's a mild refreshment. Humans can get used to it if they apply great caution, but it will still be a failsafe way to get plastered in a very short amount of time. Some humanoids with sturdier stomachs, like myself, can drink more of it, but even I get the whole range of side effects if I try to drink more than one glass. Which I did, once, as a teenager. So I know all about your headache. And I will be just as heartless as my master was and let you enjoy it until it wears off on its own. After which we will talk more about the events of last night. Now, I can assure you that, contrary to how you might feel, your head will not explode if you stand up. Are you going to take a shower on your own or do you need help?"

Kaden's expression went from surprised over hearing about the existence of X'Atlix, to annoyed when Drex refused him some relief to his head, to incredulous at the idea of his master helping him shower. "No, I do not need help to shower," he said and stood. However, he was not as steady on his feet as he thought and wobbled a little before gaining his balance again. "You are a cruel man, do you know that?" he grumbled, his hands still clutching his head as he stumbled his way into their shower. He would do anything for an anti-inflammatory, anything!

The padawan ended up sitting on the floor to shower as it was easier than trying to stand. He allowed the warm water to sprinkle over his head for a full ten minutes before starting to clean himself up. He had left his bag on his bed so once he had towelled off, he exited to change. He wasn't a shy boy, not that it really mattered if he was; Drex was blind, after all. He dressed in a clean pair of jeans and a tee-shirt, pausing occasionally to grip his head although he had to admit it did not feel as bad as it had before the shower. Once the task of dressing —and it really was an ordeal for him at the moment— had been completed, he flopped face-first onto his bed and tried to relax.

In this particular case, Drex had no problem with cruelty. After all, stupidity had to be punished. This type of punishment still left him with plenty of other things to call his padawan to task for, such as gross disobedience and breaking the laws of the planet. When Kaden had flung himself onto his bed, Drex told him: "I ordered some breakfast to our room. You may not feel like it, but I advise you to drink some tea and have a piece of toast. You will feel better afterwards. When we have eaten, we will pack and go back to the Temple where we will discuss last night's events at some detail."

Surprisingly, the thought of food, although not notionally tempting, was intrinsically appealing; Kade's stomach was completely empty, after all, and had been so ever since losing yesterday's meals in an alley behind the bar. He cringed at the memory of his master having forced him to vomit. That said, if this was the level of discomfort one felt after throwing up X'Atlix, he didn't dare imagine how bad he would have felt if he hadn't. The thought was sobering and he glanced across at the man, his pallor and expression bleak. "Please, I'm begging you. Can I have something for my head, anything?" he held up a hand as if this would somehow emphasise the seriousness of what he was about to say. "I understand that I'm being punished, but when you did this as a teenager, I am pretty sure you didn't have to travel for hours across Coruscant! I'll puke the entire way."

"No, you won't," Drex replied calmly, but firmly. "You will feel better after you have eaten. Your headache will wear off as the day progresses. And you will have learned a valuable lesson about drinking unknown substances, especially in establishments that are meant for adults and are being frequented by a wide variety of species."

"No offense, but it's been a while since you felt this way and I think you've forgotten just how terrible it is," said Kade, glaring at his master through bloodshot eyes; he felt like he was going to die. In fact, it was worse than that because he wanted to die, but he knew his body wasn't going to let him off that easily.

At this moment, the door panel beeped. When Drex opened it, a droid rolled inside and put a tray of toast, jam and tea onto their table, chirped at the execution of its orders and left.

"Serve yourself," said Drex, plopping down on a chair and carefully checking out the items on the tray both with his hands and through his sense of the Force.

The smell of food almost made Kaden puke, but he sat up and forced it down. Anything had to feel better than the hollow, burning sensation that was currently attempting to eat his stomach from the inside out. He managed to eat a few pieces of toast and drank half a cup of tea, which was nothing on his usually ferocious appetite, but a commendable effort considering how terrible he felt.

Predictably, when it was time to leave the hotel, Kade did not want to go. "Pleeeeease, just one tiny hypo. Wait, look!" The boy dropped to his knees and wrapped his arms around the man's legs in one last ditch effort at winning him over. "I'm not too proud to beg you, pleeeeeease, Master, please!"

Drex was entirely unmoved by the theatrics. He had a fairly good sense of how his padawan was feeling through their bond, and while he acknowledged that Kaden did feel rotten, there was no danger to the boy's health involved in making him endure this. That said, he was planning on giving his padawan a hypospray once back at the Temple, if only to enable him to have a meaningful discussion on the error of his ways; but he was keeping that information to himself for now.

"No," he said firmly. "Get up and go, or I will make you. And you will not like that one bit."

"Nothing you can do can make me feel any worse than I already do, and if I don't get something for this I think I am actually going to die," Kade whined. It was unlike him to whine which was a testament to how bad he actually felt. And he felt truly fucking dreadful. Someone had snuck in during the night and replaced his brain with pins and cotton wool balls, while his eyeballs felt too tight for his head. In fact, as he tried to get to his feet he swore that one fell out and was replaced with a roofing nail.

Drex was flabbergasted at the outright stupidity of this statement, and it was maybe that consternation that induced him to give his padawan one last chance.

"You think I could not possibly make you feel any worse than you do?" he asked incredulously. "Padawan, will you take my word for it that I can or do you really want to test me on this?"

"No," Kaden muttered sullenly, and despite the fact that his head was splitting, his ears were ringing and his mouth felt like the bottom of a cockatoo's cage, the boy managed to stumble to his feet. "I am not speaking to you any more," he stated and pulled open the door; this was going to be the trip from hell.

"Suit yourself," Drex said mildly. "At least until we're back at the Temple. I'll expect a few answers then."

He did not ask Kaden to give directions this time. It required a lot of mental focus from him to find his way about, but he was used to it. Asking Kaden to navigate would definitely have been faster, but Drex assumed the boy had his own problems right now. As long as he stopped sulking once they had arrived home, Drex was going to indulge him in this.

Kaden ignored Drex's remark on expecting answers when they returned to the Temple. He couldn't think about that now. His head was practically splitting open and it was taking all his will power to make it to the station without throwing up, falling over or, Force help him, crying. This was horrible. Of course he would have given directions. However, when Drex did not ask for them he suspected that he was either happy not to talk to him either or taking pity on him, both of which suited him fine.

He was still brooding when they arrived at the temple several hours later. He had thrown up once on the tube, but apart from that, the trip back to the temple had been disaster-free.

The entrance to their quarters had never looked so good. Kade practically fell through the door and made directly for his bedroom where he planned to fall on his bed and remain there until next week.

Drex was not planning on doing his padawan any such favours. He unhurriedly pulled off his boots, hung up his cloak, brought his bag into his room and fetched a hypospray from his refresher (labelled in raised letters so he would be sure to grab the right one). Then he made his way into his padawan's room and pressed the hypospray against Kaden's neck.

Kaden didn't move, not even when the hypo was pressed to his neck. Hell, the man had stuck his hand down his throat last night so a hypo was a cake walk, comparatively speaking.

"Your headache will be gone in a moment," Drex said calmly. "Unpack your things and meet me in the common room in ten minutes. We need to talk."

Kade just lay there, starfished and feeling very sad and sorry for himself. Mercifully, the pain threatening to split his head in two slowly began to ebb. The boy rolled over, sat up and slowly, very slowly, got to his feet. "Oh, thank the Force," he groaned when the pain in his head was reduced to a dull throb. He really didn't want to have this conversation right now, but then again, he was pretty sure the man would not punish him whilst he was in this state. Yeah, pretty sure…

After putting his vomit covered clothing into a bucket of water to soak, he tossed his pack into his closet and wandered into the kitchen where he proceeded to drink half a litre of water. It didn't matter how much he drank he was still thirsty! Well, at least he could no longer hear his pulse in his ears. Small mercies. "Would it have killed you to have given me an anti-inflammatory before I left?" he accused. He might still be a boy, but he was suffering from a distinct case of 'man flu'.

"No, it would not have killed me," Drex, who was sitting at the common room table, answered mildly. "I thought the likelihood of you risking ever getting into this state again would be significantly reduced if I made you endure the aftereffects, though. Now, sit down and tell me what, exactly, you were doing in a bar, on your own, late at night, in the South Pole area of Coruscant, your unauthorised pursuit of smugglers notwithstanding." It sounded quite bad when he said it like that, and he hoped Kaden realised that, too.

The last thing Kade wanted to do now was rehash the clusterfuck of events that wiped him out and left him with such a spectacular hangover. However, it did not appear as if he had a choice. He sat in the chair opposite, rested his forehead into his palms, closed his eyes and started talking. "After dinner, I went back to our room and meditated like you told me to. I wasn't at it long when I overheard the conversation between the smugglers I told you about last night. A huge shipment of illegal weapons was something the Jedi would want to know about. I wanted, at the very least, to find out more so I followed them. I was going to comm you, but what if doing so blew your cover?" It wasn't exactly the most descriptive of recounts, but it had been an honest one.

The look on Drex's face was decidedly unimpressed. "I cannot even start to imagine," he said, "how you came to think that you were in any way legitimised or equipped to pursue illegal weapons traders – and here I really have to repeat myself: on your own, late at night, in the South Pole area of Coruscant. Do you have a death wish or something?"

"I didn't think I'd need to be equipped," Kade countered, ignoring the suggestion that he might have a death wish. "Look, I know I shouldn't have left." He dragged his hands down his face, causing his eyes to stretch a little as he looked up at Drex. "But at the time I rather thought you might overlook the disobedience if I managed to bring such important information to the Order."

"Important information that the Order already happened to possess," Drex pointed out. "And I know you had no way of knowing that. Be that as it may, I specifically told you not to leave your room under any circumstances short of fire. Has it occurred to you at all that, if I deem it unsafe for you to join me in my pursuit of a group of potential criminals, I might deem it even less safe for you to head off in pursuit of criminals on your own?"

Had that occurred to him? Not really, no. He knew it was not his place to disobey, of course, every padawan knew that rule. But he'd felt that finding out this information might afford him a 'get out of jail free' card this time. Apparently not, and especially not after his important news turned out to be old news! "In hindsight," he said into his hands. His head was clearing by the minute, but the effects of X'Alix were still nothing to be sneezed at.

"It was precisely to prevent you from realising such things only in hindsight that I gave you unambiguous orders," Drex said. "These orders still left you with loads of safe options. You might have contacted me through our bond to find out whether it was safe to comm me. You might have commed the Temple. You might have told me about the smugglers later; after all, they were still holding their hotel room, they just left to go to a bar. You might even have ignored them and I would not have blamed you for it because you are not ready to undertake missions on your own by a long shot. But not only did you make the ill-advised decision to disobey me and leave your room and the hotel; you also entered a bar, a place that minors have no business attending and that you must have known perfectly well I would not want you to visit. Didn't you know that it was downright illegal for someone your age to be there – and drink alcohol to boot?"

Okay, he'd disobeyed his orders and there was simply no getting around that fact, so he didn't try. He'd also drank, which he knew was probably not the smartest idea, but at the time he'd just wanted to look inconspicuous! That excuse wasn't going to fly, he was pretty sure, so he decided to focus on the things he had a chance at getting out of in an effort at garnering some leniency. "Hang on a second here." He dropped one hand to the table, keeping the other in place to prop up his chin. "What would you have me tell the Temple, exactly? 'Hi, yeah a bunch of beings I have no information on whatsoever, are about to meet some other guys who, uh, I don't know anything about either, and smuggle spice and weapons'? They'd call me into the Council for prank calling them or something. As for contacting you across our bond. You had your own important job to do." Besides, he thought he could handle following a group of people…

"Yes, that's exactly what I would have you tell the Temple, and no, they would not call you in front of the Council for prank calling them at all," Drex said with more patience than he felt at this point. "And you may safely leave it to me to decide whether my important job allows for distractions or not at any given point. None of this is remotely relevant to the point I'm trying to make here which is that you disobeyed orders, and blatantly so. You also broke the law by entering a bar, creating a situation where you felt compelled to drink alcohol. Which is illegal, too, as you very well know. What's even worse is that you accepted an unknown type of drink. Had no one been there to help you and had I been unable to come to your rescue, you would have faced a few days in the healers' ward at best. At worst, you might have passed out in the bar and I would have needed to pick you up from either a hospital or a drunk tank."

Deciding that there was no point at all in continuing to give Kaden opportunities to justify his behaviour, Drex cut off any further arguments his padawan might have by saying: "Now that I have summed up the reasons for which I am not at all happy with you, let's get down to business. I have no intention of wasting any more words on why disobedience and recklessness will get you punished. Consider yourself lucky that I did not include stupidity in the list because I really think your hangover was punishment enough for that one. Go to my refresher and fetch me my hairbrush, please."

The more Drex spoke, the worse Kaden felt. He hadn't thought that was actually possible but as it turned out, it was. When the order to retrieve the brush registered, the boy about choked. "Master, can't we postpone this? Can't you take pity on me just this once? I feel rotten and my head only just stopped pounding, please, I don't think I could handle it if you took that brush to me, I would just die." And at the moment he truly thought he just might! If his head didn't explode from being lower than his ass, the brush was sure to finish him off.

Drex had had about enough of his padawan's self-pity.

"You're not going to die from receiving a dose of my hairbrush," he said uncharacteristically sharply. "However, if we're talking about threats to your life, drinking unknown substances or pursuing dangerous criminals against explicit orders to stay in your room are both excellent options. Which is why I'm planning on giving you a very strong incentive to never again act as impulsively and recklessly as you did last night. And you will spend a lot of time reflecting on why, exactly, this is such a big deal and why I'm not going to take pity on you."

A long time reflecting, what did he mean by that? Whatever it was, it didn't sound good, Kaden thought, and he was still thinking that when the man suddenly stood and pulled him from his chair. Before the boy's addled brain and undexterously sluggish body could react, he felt himself pushed down across the table. Kaden wanted to protest this because he knew what was about to happen, but he did not. That was until Drex's left hand pressed down on his back and his right exploded on his bottom, drawing a pained hiss.

"When you are ready to fetch my hairbrush as I told you, let me know," Drex said, letting a second and a third hard swat follow. If Kaden did not see sense quickly, his pants were not going to stay up for long either.

"Ahow!", Kade's hips automatically pressed forward into the table in an effort to put some more distance between Drex's hand and his ass; he swore that no one in the entire temple could smack a backside like Drex did, and up until today's hangover, it had been the most discomfort he'd ever endured. "Stop, I will go, I will go!" he pleaded, a hand coming around in an effort to block a fourth swat; having to get that bat his master tried passing off as a brush was bad enough, and this was not helping his plight.

"Alright, go," Drex said firmly, letting Kaden up. "I want you back here in thirty seconds."

Wordlessly and, much to his absolute horror, sniffling, the boy darted from the common room as fast as his lumbering body would carry him, picked up the brush from its usual place on the man's sink – Drex always kept things in the same place – and unenthusiastically made his way back to where his master waited. He really didn't want to do this now. In fact, as he pulled a chair from the table and turned it around, he couldn't help but notice the irony in all of this; his head had just stopped pounding, and now his ass was going to pick up the slack. Was there no end to his misery today? He placed the brush on the table noisily so that the man would know it was there and started to unfasten his jeans. By this stage of his apprenticeship he had worked out that any formal punishment Drex mete out was typically administered to his bare backside; besides, the act of unbuckling his belt and jeans put precious seconds between now and the inevitable.

As a matter of fact, it would be a while until there was an end to Kaden's misery, and that was, in Drex's opinion, entirely deserved.

He took a seat on the chair and said: "I had a job to do there, padawan. And while I was doing it, your job was to wait for me in our hotel room and allow me to do what I had to do, without interference. Do you remember the trouble you got into at the Senate building? If you do, you might also remember that I told you that disobedience and any other kind of misbehaviour occurring in the course of our duties will always get you punished especially hard. It is during those times that I have to rely on you most, and if you fail me there, I will just have to make you try harder the next time. Now get over my lap."

Kade remembered, and he grimaced; Drex had tanned the backside clean off him for that particular stunt. In fact, he would swear that there was a spot on his right ass cheek that had not entirely recovered, not that saying as much was going to buy him any favours now. Head lowered, the boy shucked his jeans and shorts and awkwardly knelt so that he could position himself across the man's lap. This act had never been comfortable, let alone dignified, and the more Kaden grew, the more both facts were made glaringly obvious. "Please, I swear to all that is sacred that I am sorry! I already feel like hell heated up. Will you take that into consideration? Please?" the boy pleaded. It seemed that he was doing a lot of pleading and begging lately, although he was surprised to discover that he did not feel his pride was taking one for the team as he would have once. In fact, he didn't feel his pride smart at all; there were more pressing matters like the preservation of his ass at stake, after all, which was something Kaden would never have allowed to show in the past.

"I am taking it into consideration, yes," Drex replied stoically. "Specifically, I am considering it sufficient punishment for being stupid enough to drink something unknown and get knocked out by it. This punishment is for your disobedience, recklessness and the fact that you broke the laws of this planet by entering a bar and drinking alcohol."

He started swatting Kaden's bottom, and the force of his swats made it clear that he was distinctly unamused by the stunt his padawan had pulled.

"N-Ooww! Oof!" That first smack took his breath away, or more specifically, knocked it out of him. Apparently – and despite his shattered state - his master was not planning to cut him any slack. "Ah! AHH! P-please," he blurted as another few landed with enough force to have his hands skidding forward on the floor. He'd barely gotten more than half a dozen and yet his ass had already had more than enough, not to mention the rest of his body which felt like it had been trampled by a stampede of bantha. Repeatedly…

"You have a serious attitude problem, padawan," Drex scolded while not letting up on Kaden's bottom in the least. "When I tell you that something is too dangerous for you and beyond your capabilities, you need to accept it. You are not a full Jedi Knight by a long shot, and I will not allow you to pretend you are. Unless you change your attitude, you will pose a risk for any mission, not to speak yourself."

As if the force being applied to his backside were not bad enough, he just had to go and say that! the boy thought, delving into a moment of self-pity before Drex landed another smack and successfully walloped him back into the moment. "I'm sorry! I'm! Ah-AHH!" he sucked in a breath to continue with the apology, but as another swat landed a piteous whine came out in its place which was closely followed by a sob. This was really hurting him, more than usual as he was just so fucking hung-over.

Drex, however, was implacable. He dealt out at least twenty more solid swats. Only then did he pause; but only to reach for the hairbrush which he found lying on the table.

"The next time I tell you to stay in your room, you stay put," he said. "If I need to provide you with a sore bottom to make you understand this, then that is what you're going to get."

He raised the hairbrush and brought it down onto Kaden's bottom with a resounding SPLAT.

"I will! I WILL! P-please don't," the boy sniffled as he felt Drex shift to pick up the brush. He hated that brush, hated it! And this was why. "AHHhaoww!" he wailed, one hand grabbing a fist full of carpet whilst the other darted back to grip onto the chair leg. How he was going to get through this, the boy did not know, and as another few landed with similar force, he couldn't stop himself from wailing.

If Kaden thought this was intolerable, that was all for the better, in Drex's opinion. It might be an efficient deterrent against ever doing something like this again. He had told the truth: He had absolutely no use for such behaviour during missions. With this in mind, he wielded the brush with grim efficiency, bringing it down time and again.

At that point the boy lost it; he was tired, brutally hung over, his head was starting to pound again from the uncomfortable position, and worst of all, his backside was being pounded into next week with the brush from hell. He took a breath and let out a wail that would have been heard in the next spire, although it did not take many more before that wail turned into a bawling howl. He twisted and kicked, bucked and squirmed until he couldn't control himself and his hand came back, palm up, in an effort to save his backside from being completely roasted. Even if it was just a second's reprieve it would be worth it, or so he thought.

Drex did indeed pause momentarily. "Give me your hands, both of them," he ordered in a no-nonsense tone of voice. "I'm not done yet."

"N-noo, p-please," Kade sobbed out but knew better than to disobey this order: the last time he'd done so, he'd copped a few painful licks with the belt for his troubles. Despite his words to the contrary, the boy obeyed immediately, throwing his hands backwards to rest at the small of his back where they were unceremoniously pinned, and subsequently, so was he…

Kaden howled for all he was worth. A long strand of snot and tears extended from his nose and dropped onto the flooring but he didn't care, he couldn't care, not even if he wanted to! Drex seemed determined to teach him a lesson that he would not soon forget, and if he lived through this ordeal, he wouldn't forget it. Not ever!

Drex administered at least ten more hefty swats before he decided to end this, for now.

Releasing his hold on his padawan's hands carefully, he said: "You may have fifteen minutes to clean yourself up. Then I expect you back here to discuss the rest of your punishment."

Kaden's entire body felt as if it had been gradually digested by a Sarlacc several times over, and then pounded by an ATAT. It hurt like nothing else. He was beyond comprehension at this moment, but with Drex's help, he managed to get to his feet without falling over.

Still sobbing uncontrollably, the boy attempted to stand tall as he listened to Drex's instructions to clean himself up, but couldn't do it. Instead, he knelt, put his pounding head on the man's knee and sobbed. This was very uncharacteristic of Kaden. He was a Jedi padawan and needed to be tough, he couldn't act like a youngling, not even in front of his own master, or so he felt. Right now, however, he was simply a twelve-year-old boy who had just copped the hiding of his life and wanted a moment of comfort. But only a moment, then he wanted his room, some cold tiles and a dozen hyposprays, in that order.

Drex recognised Kaden's need for comfort. He rested a hand on the boys head and tousled his hair affectionately.

"I know that was a harsh punishment, padawan," he said quietly. "But you will survive and will learn from it. And that is the whole purpose of it. I'm not angry with you."

The boy was sobbing too much to reply to that, so he attempted to send his understanding across their bond, which was probably even less comprehensible, but well, he didn't know what else to do. He truly did appreciate his master's comfort, not that he wanted to admit as much. Once he had pulled himself together enough to get out a coherent sentence, the boy found his feet and made for his room. He felt rotten, both because of his behaviour and as a result of consuming X'Atlix.

As it turned out, Kaden didn't bother with the tiles, and he had no hyposprays at his disposal, so he just fell onto his bed and tried to calm down. His ass was truly on fire, so when the time was up, he found a well-worn pair of sleep pants and padded back into their common room where he knelt and waited for his master to face him, as there was no way he was sitting down. No, not ever again!

Drex knelt down opposite his padawan.

"I want you to realise exactly why I am coming down on you so hard," he said quietly. "Therefore, you will write me an essay in which you will explain comprehensively, in as much detail as possible, why what you did was wrong and what harm it caused or might have caused. You will do research in the archives and will quote at least three specific negative examples of padawans who did some of the things you did, such as leaving their room against their master's explicit orders or drinking alcohol while they were underage to do so or consuming unknown substances. You will be grounded until the essay is completed to my total satisfaction, and there will be no lightsaber practice either during that time. You will also perform half an hour's meditation on arrogance and the dangers of overestimating your abilities every day for a week. Whether you receive your lightsaber back by the end of that week will depend on whether I can discern any change of attitude. Do you have any questions about this?"

Kaden remained kneeling, his head down as Drex proceeded to turn the next week into some sort of personal hell. He didn't exactly hate his class work. Sure, there were some subjects that he did better in than others. That said, regardless of the topic, he did not enjoy writing essays, especially those with such specific criteria.

"What does it mean that I'm grounded?" the padawan asked morosely, and swiped a sleeve across his face. When his crèche master, K'Mi, had grounded him, he wasn't allowed to leave the crèche sleeping quarters. His room was far too small to be exiled to for any length of time, although the Kushiban had threatened him with a day in there once, and to this day the boy wasn't sure if she had actually been serious. He did not test her in any case.

"It means that before and after classes, you are restricted to our quarters," Drex replied. "You will come straight home from school. There will be no watching holovids or playing holo games either - which is all for the better because the sooner you complete your essay, the sooner the period of your grounding will end."

He put a hand on Kaden's shoulder. "I know this is little consolation to you right now, but it could have been much worse. Had I not caught up with you fast and caused you to vomit, you'd be spending quite a bit of time in the healers' wing now. And the healers take a very dim view on padawans who needlessly risk intoxicating themselves."

Kade had suspected as much, but that didn't mean he had to like it. He blew out a sigh and shifted uncomfortably on his heels. "I know, and I'm sorry, but –" His tone and expression truly were piteous as he asked: "Do you think I could lay down for an hour or so before I have to start?" Kaden felt dreadful, his head and ass were pounding in time, and the rest of his body wasn't faring any better. He knew Drex was right, and he knew the man had – in hindsight – spared him considerable pain for ridding him of the X'Atlix. However, it wasn't easy to be grateful when faced with such a week.

"Yes, you may," Drex said. "Drink a glass of water first. Drinking helps. If your head does not feel better after some rest, I'll give you another hypospray." He really felt that Kaden had suffered enough from his hangover. From now on, he should rather focus on his essay and on making it a learning experience.

"Thanks," Kade said quietly and slowly got to his feet. His ass was competing with this head although once he lay on his bed the pounding in his head began to ebb once again. He was out before his head hit the pillow and slept solidly until Drex woke him for lunch.


	9. Chapter 9

While Kaden was lying down to sleep off the last of his hangover, Drex ordered some groceries and a light lunch. It had been several hours since breakfast and he was hungry. He supposed Kaden was going to be hungry as well when he woke up.

… He was, although his thoughts were redirected when he rolled onto his back and was promptly reminded of the walloping he'd gotten earlier; that brush was going down. Yep, sometime between now and his knighting, Kaden was going to rid himself of that horrid thing. He was still muttering about how the Force Drex's previous padawans had survived long enough to reach knighthood when he entered their common room.

"What time is it?" he asked. His head no longer pounded, although he was still feeling decidedly seedy.

"Six pm," said Drex, taking off his earphones. "I thought I'd let you sleep."

"Oh," was all Kade said. He hadn't expected to sleep that long, but it had done him some good. His stomach growled, bringing his attention to the fact that he'd slept through lunch.

"Come eat," Drex told Kaden. "I have ordered noodle soup. It should help to rehydrate you and it will be easy on your stomach."

"Sounds good." Given that it was already six in the evening and he was grounded, Kaden didn't see any point in changing out of his sleep pants, so he followed Drex into the kitchen and helped with plates and cutlery. It smelled great! However, after a mouthful he realised that his stomach, and much to his misfortune, his bowels did not agree. He shot up like a spring and was gone in a flash.

Eventually, he managed to finish his food; because, the rest of his body be damned, he was starving! After dinner, the boy cleared the dishes and washed up. He remembered his pledge to repay Drex for having been allowed to keep the holo game and he meant it, aching ass notwithstanding. That said, he wasn't overly keen on starting his assignment. "Do you think I could start this tomorrow?" he asked. He still felt dreadful and just wanted to sleep, until next year!

"You may write it any time you like," Drex replied mildly. "You will simply be grounded, with no lightsaber practice, until it's complete. How long this state of affairs lasts is entirely up to you. Remember that there will be school and homework to take care of, too, tomorrow and the days after, though."

"Yeah, I know," Kade said, his face scrunched. "But today, I honestly can't face it. My ass hurts, my stomach is barely hanging on to the noodles and if that weren't bad enough, my head pounds for a minute here and there, just to keep it interesting," the boy said in a deadpan tone, although he had reached a stage now where this was starting to become funny, if only from an outside looking-in sort of perspective. "If I go and lie down, can you give me another hypospray, please?" he wanted to know. To his credit, the boy felt truly peaked and Drex would be able to sense as much.

"Yes, I will," Drex replied. "Start on your essay whenever you like. Just don't expect me to lift your restrictions until you're done, and 'done' means until I am completely satisfied with the result."

Kaden dropped his gaze. "Yes, Sir," he acquiesced, then without pausing to look at the man, made for his bedroom.

When Drex entered a few minutes later, he found the boy on his bed, his eyes closed.

"That bad?" he asked, sitting down on the edge of Kaden's bed. "This is what X'Atlix does to you. Has it affected your sense of the Force as well?"

"Yeah, it is." Kade's ashen pallor was lost on Drex and given that he was trying to tough this out as best he could, he hoped it wasn't easy for Drex to tell exactly how dreadful he felt. He rolled onto his side so he was facing the man. Losing his sense of the Force was something he had been reluctant to talk about as it had honestly unnerved him. He fell silent.

Drex did, in fact, have quite an accurate impression of how poorly Kaden was feeling. The fact that the boy had lost most of his ability to shield his Force signature probably helped with that. Besides, Drex remembered all too well how rotten he had felt after having consumed X'Atlix, decades ago. It had been a decidedly stupid idea, too; mostly he had been trying to impress a Zabrak friend by demonstrating what a Hrakian stomach could deal with. He had found that, while having the fortunate ability of being able to digest most everything, he was not as immune to consequences as he had thought, especially since nobody had thought to empty his stomach and by the time his master caught up with him, it had been too late for that to have any effect. He had ended up with a blinding headache, three days of severe nausea and a frightening inability to draw on the Force that had fortunately worn off after a day or so but was still vivid in his mind.

Resting his hand on Kaden's shoulder, he said gently: "Move a little closer so I can give you another hypospray. It won't help your sense of the Force, however. If you're lucky, it will have returned by tomorrow morning. Not a good feeling, is it?"

Kade rolled onto his back, shifted closer and turned his head to face the wall, giving Drex clear access to the base of his neck. Hyposprays didn't hurt, per se, but nor were they something anyone enjoyed having administered. In this instance, however, Kaden welcomed any and all intervention. No, this wasn't a good feeling and it wasn't just the hangover or his loss of Force sensitivity; Drex had tried to offer him an interesting learning experience and he had turned it into a complete clusterfuck. He rolled back onto his side – his ass still hurt – and faced his master once again. "Not a good feeling," he agreed, admitting aloud for the first time that losing his ability to access the Force was one of his symptoms. He didn't think it was permanent, but there was a touch of unease to his tone.

"Well, this was not how either of us expected this whole weekend to turn out, I suppose," Drex said, a hint of humour in his tone of voice. Kaden had misbehaved spectacularly, but such things happened. Drex was not angry with his padawan; he just hoped the boy would learn from this experience.

Kaden sighed as the hypo started to take effect and rolled into Drex a little; what? His weight was forcing his body to lull into his side! 

Drex stayed with Kaden until he fell asleep which, predictably, did not take long. As it turned out, however, Kaden woke several hours later, in the middle of the night, still feeling rotten. He was forced to seek out his master for yet another hypospray and a sleep compulsion.

By the time Kaden woke the next morning, he had well and truly learned his lesson and would never, ever again drink a substance unless he knew exactly what it was. "I still don't feel right? Do you think I could be excused from classes today?" the boy asked as he spooned a mouthful of oats, bland oats being the only thing he could fathom stomaching at this point. Although his hangover was gone, he was still not one hundred percent.

Drex put a hand on Kaden's forehead and monitored his state through the Force for a moment. Then he shook his head. "No, you're going," he said firmly. "Since we'll have no lightsaber practice today, you may take a nap after lunch if you need it."

"You do know that no lightsaber practice is hardly punishment for me when all we do is Soresu?" Kade grumbled quietly, but did not argue about having his request to stay home denied; he felt bad, but even he had to admit it wasn't bad enough to warrant a day off classes.

"Be that as it may," Drex said calmly, refusing to rise to the provocation, "you'll devote your time to your essay, rather than sparring."

Oh joy for me, Kaden thought, but that was the extent of it. Arguing and being a smartass tended to end badly for him, and he didn't want to start his day off in the bad books.

Several days passed, each a painfully boring experience for Kaden as apparently, no lightsaber training did not mean no training at all! Their gym sessions focussed on muscle-building and stamina exercises instead.

He had finished the essay on day two only to have it returned slathered in corrections and told to do it over. The same happened again on day three, so by day four Kaden was really hoping that Drex would find it satisfactory because he missed his evenings at the padawans' lounge, not to mention the fact that his best friend Gannon had just returned from a mission on an Outer Rim planet where he had procured a large number of prank items, all of which Kaden was keen to see. He planned to ask if his friend could stay over this weekend. This was, of course, contingent on his ability to finish the essay, which was no easy task when the man marking it was so fastidious! He waited with baited breath as Drex listened to his essay for what felt like the hundredth time, but was actually only night four.

Drex did not want to encourage Kaden to do a sloppy job on any kind of work, least of all something that was meant to help him learn. He listened to the essay carefully twice over. Then, finally, he nodded. "Alright, padawan," he said. "Your style could still use some improvement, but I will accept this."

It was all the boy could do not to drop to his knees and kiss the man's feet. The idea of having to spend a fifth day writing about what he did and why it was wrong did not exactly appeal. Truth be told, having researched the archives for similar acts of recklessness committed by his ill-fated peers had proved more interesting than he would ever have imagined. "Thanks!" Kaden said with more exuberance than he had meant to use, then gratefully accepted his data pad.

"You're welcome," Drex said, grinning at his padawan's reaction.

"Does that mean I can go to the padawans' lounge tonight if I finish my homework in time?" Kaden asked. It wasn't likely to happen as he had a lot to do, but the boy wanted to know.

"Well, yes, you could go – provided you have finished not only your homework, but also your additional half hour of meditation," said Drex. Like Kaden, he considered this unlikely, but he assumed the real question was whether his padawan was still grounded. He was not.

As it turned out, Kade had barely finished his homework when Drex came to tell him it was time to meditate and get ready for bed. The boy frowned, let out a long sigh and slammed the lid shut on his datapad; he had really wanted to catch up with Gannon this evening but apparently, this would have to wait until tomorrow.

A short time later Kaden emerged from his room, showered and dressed in a pair of sleep pants. "Gannon is back from his mission," he said as he knelt on his mat in preparation to begin the additional meditation. "Would it be alright if he stayed over tomorrow or Saturday? He has a bunch of stuff to show me."

Drex considered this for a moment, then nodded. "If your chores and homework are done tomorrow night by dinnertime, he may come and stay over," he replied.

"I'll finish both," Kade promised. It was then that a thought occurred to him. "Do I still have to do this extra meditation if Gannon comes to stay?" Kaden had two reasons for wanting to know this, the first being that he'd rather get it over with before his friend arrived as an hour of meditation would seriously eat into their time, and the second, well, he hoped to get out of it! Half an hour spent meditating on arrogance and the dangers of overestimating your abilities was not exactly thrilling, and although he did not mind meditation, the topic left a bit to be desired; entirely the point, he knew.

"Of course you will do your meditations," Drex said matter-of-factly. "You can do them before Gannon arrives on Friday and after he has left on Saturday. If the worst comes to the worst, you may leave some of your homework until Sunday. It's a weekend, after all."

Okay, so Kaden hadn't expected to actually get out of the meditation, not really, but if he didn't try there would be no chance at all, and some chance was surely better than none. Right? "Thanks." The boy felt a wave of gratitude cross their bond briefly before he could stop it, not that he would have chosen to do so in any case. It would have been a hard slog to finish all of his homework by dinnertime tomorrow, but Kaden would have done his best. Being able to spread it out a little using Sunday would make that task much less of a rush.

Drex smiled at Kaden as he sensed the brief wave of gratitude through their bond and responded by conveying his affection to the boy.

Half an hour later Kaden got to his feet, scrubbed at his eyes and shook out his limbs, all the while quietly grumbling about still having to spend half an hour of his free time being punished for something he did ages ago. That said, he knew it could have been worse, a lot worse. Drex had chosen to spank himt twice for what he had come to refer to as 'that shit that he pulled at the Senate.' Force, he was never going to live that down. To top that off, apparently Raven had copped a paddling from Eeth for not ratting him out. Honestly, masters had no concept of comradely honour amongst padawans.

And speaking of masters, Kaden turned to find Drex still working on whatever it was he was doing with the data pad, and given that the man still had his headphones on the boy suddenly grinned impishly. Very, very carefully he crept up behind Drex, then, as he had seen his peers do to each other on many occasions, grabbed him in a bear hug and yelled "AHHHH!" at the top of his lungs, hoping to scare the crap out of him. Surely, with both senses of sight and hearing out of the picture, it had to work.

What the padawan did not know was how his master would react. He had seen a couple of boys thrown out of reflex, then there was one girl who actually wet her pants. That had been funny, but he doubted Drex would get _that_ much of a fright. At least he hoped he wouldn't because the idea of having to clean that up as retribution did not appeal.

Drex did have an excellent sense of the Force so he had been aware of his padawan's approach on some level. He had also been extremely focussed on listening to a rather complex report which required a lot of concentration, and he had not exactly expected his padawan to do something this childish. Consequently, his first reflex, born out of years of field experience, was to act as if this was some kind of attack: He pushed his chair back forcefully, knocking Kaden onto his bottom quite hard. Then, realising that this had merely been a silly prank, he blew out an annoyed breath.

"Do this again, and I will give you fifty hours of community service in the junior crèche," he said sternly. "Maybe the four-year-olds will appreciate your sense of humour. I don't."

"Oof!" Kade was not expecting to be nailed in the stomach with a chair. Fortunately, his sense of the Force, while not nearly as experienced as Drex's, was just enough to give him time to cushion his fall. He still landed smack bang on his ass, though. He stared owlishly up at the stern face of his teacher, and despite knowing he was probably signing his own death sentence, he laughed. A hand slapped over his mouth as if it had acted without his consent. He was struggling to keep a straight face. "Yes, Sir. Sorry," he managed to get out. The expression on his face was clearly amused, not that Drex was able to see it.

"No, you aren't," said Drex pointedly. "But you will be if you ever try this again. Now, if you're that bored, you could do our laundry before going to bed. There are two baskets waiting to be folded in my room."

Drex was correct, Kade wasn't sorry. In fact he'd thought the entire thing was hilarious. That said, he did know when to leave well enough alone, and without fussing, he got to his feet and brushed himself off. "Alright, I'll go fold the clothing," he said, eager to stick to his pledge to be extra diligent with his chores, and was still smirking twenty minutes later as he finished the second basket of folding. "I'm done," he said.

"Thanks," Drex replied, giving him a smile. "I'll tuck you in in a moment. I'll just need to send my remarks on this report first; the Council requested my input on this a.s.a.p."

Kade lay in his bed that evening thinking about tomorrow. He couldn't wait to see the stuff Gannon had found, although he did have to wonder how he was going to keep this from Drex if they decided to test any of these items out. Would he dare do it? To be mischievous for the sake of his own entertainment didn't sound very Jedi-like. Besides, he really couldn't imagine being able to keep anything from Drex; blind or not, the man had a seventh and eighth sense when it came to detecting mischief. Ah, well, that problem could wait until tomorrow because for now, he needed to get some sleep.


	10. Chapter 10

The next day truly draggggged! Kaden had gotten told off twice in his Basic class for not paying attention. Then, when the teacher called on him a third time to answer a question that Kaden couldn't answer due to his inattentiveness, she had gotten annoyed enough to send a message to Drex asking that he talk to the boy about his behaviour. He'd made an extra effort after that, but apparently, the message was being sent regardless. It was a slightly subdued padawan who slunk into their quarters that afternoon. He wasn't sure if Drex would do more than scold him, but neither was he eager to find out. "I'm home," he said as he always did, then strode into his room to begin homework.

Drex was in the kitchen, fetching drinks from the cooler for lunch. When he emerged into the common room, his padawan, about whom he had received a rather displeased message, was nowhere to be seen.

"Padawan?" he called, knocking onto Kaden's door. "Come out into the common room, please."

"If I say no would you leave me alone?" Kade replied in resignation. He really didn't want to go out there, because he had a pretty good idea that it was to discuss what happened in class today.

"You know better than that," Drex said firmly. "Lunch is on the table. And before that, I need to talk to you. Come on out."

Kaden groaned, but stood and obeyed all the same. He had learned over the months that trying to skirt around trouble simply compounded his problems. He didn't say anything because he kinda knew what the man wanted to talk to him about. Instead, he just stood in front of Drex and glared at the lunch on their table.

"Sit down and tell me why your teacher saw fit to send me a message about your behaviour in your Basic class today," Drex said. "In my experience, Knight An'narchin, who has been around long enough to teach even my first padawan, is not the type to raise a fuss over nothing."

Nor did Knight An'narchin believe in giving more than two warnings… Drex had had more than one conversation with her about his third padawan, Taishin, and therefore knew the woman quite well.

Kaden dry-washed his face with a hand and sat, stiffly, in the dining room chair beside Drex. "Because I wasn't paying attention and she got tired of telling me off when I wasn't able to answer her questions," the boy stated honestly.

"And why weren't you paying attention?" asked Drex.

"Because it was boring, and …" Kade lowered his gaze. "I was thinking about what Gannon and I could do this evening instead of listening to her," he admitted. This didn't bode well for him, but it was the truth. There was no point in lying to Drex. Firstly, the man could usually tell, and secondly, what had happened would no doubt be detailed in the note An'narchin had sent home; lying was an exercise in futility.

"I see," Drex replied neutrally. "I suppose you don't want to have visits from your friends put on hold. So you had better not let it happen again."

He shifted back in his chair and patted his lap.

"Bend over," he instructed. "Letting your attention wander is one thing, but continuing to do so despite having been told off repeatedly is quite another thing. I'm going to give you an incentive to pull yourself together the next time your teacher tells you to pay attention."

Bend over? What?! The padawan almost choked, and the colour drained from his face. Shocked into obedience, he rose from his chair and moved to stand by the man's right. "I was inattentive, I didn't murder anybody. Can't you give me extra work or something? Please!" He really didn't want to get spanked. Spankings hurt and he would try just about anything to get out of one.

"Oh, this is a method that seems to work quite well," Drex replied calmly. "Bend over, now. Or do you want to stand there a little longer? In that case, you can go and fetch me the cooking spoon. That will make things easier on my hand."

Kaden kicked at the floor with a booted toe and reluctantly began unbuckling his belt and trousers. He shucked the lot to his knees, then did as he was told. As usual, he struggled to position himself with any dignity. He was tall enough so that his hands and feet comfortably touched the ground, allowing him to keep his weight off Drex's lap. Keeping his weight off somehow made this feel less juvenile and more like he was taking the punishment on his own terms. Yeah, that feeling rarely lasted long. He squared his jaw and gritted his teeth; it could have been worse after all.

Drex had no intention of reducing Kaden to tears or making him unable to sit; certainly not for a first offense and one ranking as low as this one. This was simply a warning of the kind of consequences Kade could expect if he kept up this kind of behaviour; only if he did, there was definitely going to be more than Drex's hand involved.

Drex dealt out a dozen firm swats, enough to be acutely uncomfortable; but the sting they caused would probably fade in an hour or so.

"Alright, up you get, Padawan," he said, releasing his hold on Kaden. "But keep in mind that if there's a repeat occurrence, there will be a lot more of this."

Kaden had winced with each smack, and was still wincing as he gracelessly clambered his way off Drex's lap. That had hurt him, but not nearly as much as he had expected. This was the first time Drex had spanked him for what he considered a minor offense, after all. Still, Kade rubbed at the sting with both hands in an effort to quash it. It didn't work, not really. "Yes, Sir. Sorry," he told the man in a subdued tone. He still wasn't happy about having had his ass walloped. Then again, he hadn't expected the man to take him for ice-cream when he found out either.

"Good," Drex replied with a smile. "Then let's have lunch. After that, I have a training room reserved for us."

Despite his master's smile, which Kade knew was for his benefit, the padawan was not yet able to return it. Sure, he'd only gotten a dozen swats but his master's hand was like a board and his swing akin to that of a professional voss ball player. He swiped a pillow from their couch and sat, relieved that it went unnoticed. Or maybe it was just not commented on. He suspected the latter, given the slight smirk on Drex's face as he sat.

Since he was no longer grounded, their lightsaber practice had been reinstated. Soresu only, which grated, but for once, Kaden didn't care. He had spent the last four days doing push-ups and endurance-type exercises and it was simply good to have a lightsaber in his hand again, even if it did come from his master's belt. The thought reminded him that the week was up tomorrow, and as they towelled off, he asked hesitantly: "Do I get my lightsaber back tomorrow?"

"I'm not going to make any promises," Drex said cautiously, "but we can talk about it tomorrow night. When Gannon is gone. He can stay until mid-afternoon; after that, I have reserved us a special gym."

"A special gym? What do you mean by that?" Kade asked, doing his best to mask his disappointment at hearing Drex's answer. He knew that to complain about it would only compound the problem, though, so he didn't.

"A gym that will allow you to become acquainted with the advantages of Soresu and master it to an extent that will make it useful on missions," Drex replied. "One of the strengths of Soresu lies in the fact that it enables you to defend yourself against blaster fire from multiple angles, a situation that is much more common than an open lightsaber duel and in which other forms of combat are little help. This gym is designed to simulate just that – blaster fire coming from different angles. It can be arranged for all kinds of scenarios, adapted to varying levels of skills and numbers of fighters. I will be interested to see what you make of it."

"I see," Kaden replied neutrally. He had a pretty good idea of what this gym session was going to entail. Oh well, at least he'd get to use his lightsaber whilst he was repeatedly pummelled with random blaster bolts. He hadn't been bad at the exercise during crèche. The thing was, he had a sneaking suspicion that as a padawan the basic single droid and visor getup would be significantly improved upon.

He tossed the damp sweat towel into his bag and threw it over his shoulder. "I have lots of Basic and biology homework. If you could help me with biology, I might get it all finished in time to meditate before Gannon arrives." He hoped that Drex would not have work of his own to do this evening and would be willing to help him, because he'd much rather get it all done and have Sunday free. Free time was somewhat of a rarity for Kaden these days.

"I'm sorry, Padawan," Drex said regretfully, "but I'm involved in the negotiation of a sudden and dangerous political crisis. The Council has asked me for my input. I'll be fairly busy this afternoon. I can most likely help you with biology on Sunday, but not today. I'm afraid you will simply have to get as much of your work done as you can manage until tonight and leave the rest till Sunday."

"What is the sudden political crisis?" Kaden enquired, his interest peeked at what sounded far more interesting than the homework he had to look forward to.

"Malastare has threatened to withdraw membership in the Republic," Drex replied. "Most likely, they're bluffing, but if they're not, they will pull many states along. This could even cause a civil war. On the other hand, they obviously want to be bribed in order to stay, and nobody has any desire to give in to all of their demands. It is a situation that requires swift action, on many levels, and all Jedi who have relevant relations or expertise have to make a contribution."

"Sounds like a crisis. There are a lot of those popping up recently," the boy observed, then was silent for a long moment as he contemplated this. "If there are enough civil wars involving the Senate, won't it eventually collapse?" he asked.

"Well, I hope it won't," Drex said decisively, "because any alternative I can think of would be a lot worse. But it is true that crises abound. I assume that's to be suspected in a structure as large and complex as the Galactic Republic. It is our job, as Jedi, to try to resolve them peacefully."

"Yes, I know," Kade replied. He was deep in thought over all the 'what if's' so he did not speak again. The rest of their walk home passed by in a comfortable silence.

"I'll meditate and start on my homework," he said, and after receiving a nod, Kaden knelt on his mat, blew out an exasperated sigh and began.

The rest of the afternoon and evening passed by slowly. Homework and chores weren't exactly his favourite duties, but the boy did them without complaint and didn't bother Drex who had been working steadily all the while.

By the time Gannon arrived, Kade had finished all of his Basic assignment and a large chunk of biology, which he knew was a good enough effort to placate his master.

"Gannon, good to see you again, man," Kaden greeted his friend, clapping him on the back in a comradely gesture.

"Likewise," the Kel Dor replied. "That was one long, boring-ass mission and, I never thought I'd say it, but it's good to be back at the Temple,"

"Sure it is. Come on, I'll introduce you to my master," said Kade.

Drex had taken off his earphones and stood, facing in the vague direction of his padawan's friend.

"You must be Gannon," he said, smiling and holding out a hand. "I'm Drex Zaryth. Pleased to meet you. We waited with ordering dinner so you can give your order. I would have offered to take the two of you out into the city, but I'm afraid I got saddled with work."

"My master's busy also, she's writing her part of our mission report. Granted, she did get the lion share, my part was easy," Gannon explained as he shook the man's hand. "Master Lyric sends her regards. Apparently, you worked with her on a mission a very long time ago?"

Kade stood aside and watched the interaction. It never ceased to surprise him how easily Drex could pass as sighted, not that Gannon did not already know, which was why the teen still had his bag slung over a shoulder: don't leave things lying around! he had been told.

"Yes, I did," Drex said, his smile widening. "She was very pleasant to work with. And extremely efficient. Now, why don't you put your things into Kaden's room and come back here to order dinner?"

They had borrowed a mattress and bedding from the commissary where such things were available for Jedi who had visitors. It just fit into the space between Kaden's bed and his desk.

Given that most Jedi lived in small quarters with roughly the same layout, Gannon didn't need a tour to figure out where everything was, but Kaden gestured he follow in any case.

"What did you bring?" Kade wanted to know, turning on the tap to further mask their conversation whilst the door was still open.

"The good stuff," Gannon replied. "We can wreak havoc in the padawans' lounge with the bits and pieces I bought back, not to mention a few deserving Jedi masters and healers along the way. I have a particularly good one marked on page 12 for one Master Healer Rool."

"Why do you wish your venom on him?" Kade asked, his brows raised in surprise.

"He took a switch to me for lying to him," Gannon said. Then, when his friend's eyebrows rose even further in surprise, he elaborated. "I told him I'd already had my post mission check-up and that I was just waiting for my master to finish up. It was a diplomatic mission, for crying out loud. It's not like I need a massive overhaul after sitting in a chair for three weeks, talking," the teen defended himself, although there was a twinkle in his eye as he tapped the book with a finger and said: "Page twelve."

Kade, for his part, rather thought that lying to any Jedi master was pretty bad, but someone like master Rool? "You have a death wish. Come on, let's go eat, we have all night to plan."

As he could not take them out into the city that night, Drex ordered in from a Corellian place near the Temple. He allowed the padawans free choice from the menu, under the condition that they were able to finish all they ordered. In his experience, that was rarely a problem with growing boys, though.

"Go and have fun while we're waiting for our food," he told them indulgently. "I'll set the table. I need to move a bit after having sat around all afternoon - and having several more hours of sitting around to look forward to."

"Yeah, well, now you know how I felt when you made me do that epic essay that went on for four days," Kade shot back. He wasn't entirely serious… Not entirely.

Gannon whistled. "Four days. What'd you do to catch that?" he asked, turning to his friend.

"Ever heard of X'Atlix?" Kade replied.

"Hell, yes. You didn't drink the stuff, did you?"

"He did, and it was not a good idea," Drex answered. "And I think he won't be doing it again in a hurry. Will you, Kaden?"

Kade's expression went from kidding around to straight at that question. "No, Sir." He turned to Gannon. "If that stuff didn't manage to kill me, Drex came pretty close to finishing the job."

"Let's go," Gannon said, breaking the awkwardness. "I got stuff to show you." And with that the two disappeared into the bedroom. They spend half an hour going through the bag of prank tools and book on how to use them, but then were called to dinner. It wasn't until later that evening that the two had more time to plan.

Gannon was reading from their 'book of tricks' whilst Kade sifted through the small bag full of gadgets. Occasionally, one of them would laugh, then explain their find to the other. When Kade came across a skin bonding agent, his thoughts turned towards his unsuspecting master. They had already decided to use the faucet plug and green shampoo on Drex. Both were a bit of harmless fun but after the way he had acted when Kade had scared him, the bonding agent could come in very handy. A plan taking shape in his head, Kade started pacing the room. "Okay, so here's the plan. We use one faucet plug and a few drops of the green dye on my master. That's pretty harmless. Still, I have a feeling when he finds out he has green hair he might get a bit annoyed and I don't want to risk a hiding, so we have to be smart about this." Kaden stopped pacing for a moment, "every night he has the same routine, brushes teeth, has a shower, towels off, brushes hair and goes to bed. He's hit with the faucet first, then ends up with green hair. It's nontoxic for all species so he won't die. If he goes postal and we're going to catch it too badly, I have an idea.

"What's your idea?" Gannon wanted to know.

Kaden flicked the tube of bonding agent between his fingers and grinned… "The less you know the better."

Gannon had to laugh at that, but he didn't push. Besides: "The guy's got to have pulled a few pranks in his time, I'm sure he'll understand. Hell, I got my master with the whoopee cushion and the chili tea bags and she just rolled her eyes. Older masters are good like that."

"True, Drex does have a sense of humour, that's the only reason I'm even attempting any of this on him. Could you imagine what would happen if you tried to pull any of this shit on someone like Eeth Koth?"

Both boys fell silent at Kade's comment, then burst out laughing as Gannon handed him the turbolax tube. "Not on your life. He's paddled me twice and I can tell you it's not worth it."

"Chicken, Booork, Buk, BUKKKarK!" Gannon teased his friend only to be clobbered with the tube. "Alright, alright chicken boy, so we leave Eeth out of it, but Rool and that twerp Zeek are definitely going down in a big way."

"Agreed," Kaden said, then grinned. "Time for operation 'greenspray.' You ready?"

"I was born ready, just leave the distraction to me."

While Gannon was busy making tea and asking Drex questions about the crisis with Malastare, Kaden took an empty laundry basket into his master's bedroom and began picking up his dirty wash pile; this was something the boy often did so it should not occur to Drex to investigate. Thankfully, the green dye was in drop form and he was quick to add that to his master's shampoo bottle. The faucet proved a little more difficult and Kade didn't have time to test it. But eventually, it was done and the boy got the hell out of dodge.

An unsuspecting Drex finally sent the boys off to bed; not that he was under any illusion that they were going to sleep soon, but that was fine. It was Saturday tomorrow, after all.

He went to the refresher to get ready for bed himself. As he made to brush his teeth, he copped a nose full of water from the faucet. Water splashed everywhere except for the sink. Cursing under his breath, Drex turned the water off and investigated. Of course, he soon found the faucet plug. Well, he would leave it to Kaden to mop up his refresher, he thought, a little irritated as he undressed himself to take a quick shower.

The padawans could barely contain their laughter when they heard Drex's shower turn on. "What if he doesn't wash his hair?! I don't think I can keep a straight face for another night," Kade admitted, although of course he would do his best.

"Don't be ridiculous, just put your mind to other things. It's your guilt that will give you away; be smooth, like me."

Kade had to laugh at that, although his friend had a point. Gannon was hardly ever busted and had an extraordinarily good poker face.

Drex took his shower, towelled off and brushed his freshly-washed hair. Then he made his way to Kaden's room, purposely keeping the hairbrush in hand and taking the faucet plug with him.

When the boys heard footsteps coming towards the bedroom, their book went under the pillow and the bag was zipped and flung onder Kaden's bed.

Drex knocked on the door, waited for a few seconds and opened it.

"Boys?" he said calmly. "Would this be yours, by any chance?" He held up the faucet plug for them to see.

Kade swallowed when he spotted his master. The man's usually silver hair was a swampy green, but that wasn't the worst of it; his typically golden face and ears were now decidedly blue. Fuck! he thought when he spotted the brush clutched in the man's right hand.

"Oh, yeah, thanks," Gannon said smoothly, standing to take his gadget and tucking it into a pocket.

"Harmless joke?" Kade added hopefully and sent him a silent plea that his master find this funny.

"Well, it might have been harmless, but it was _my_ refresher that was set under water," Drex said ominously. "You can go and mop it up right now. I have no desire to step into puddles of water that I can't see. Are there any more such harmless pranks under way, in any case?"

Kade just stared at him. Had the man been sighted he probably would have laughed at the expression on his face; it was half hilarity and half absolute horror. "No, Master, nothing else harmless," he said, his eyes darting to the brush once again. Because he did not consider the shade of green and blue his master now sported as harmless; he was going to cop it for that!

Gannon had on a perfect mask of indifference; how he was doing it, Kaden didn't know!

"We'll clean it up for you. It wasn't supposed to flood your bathroom, just squirt you a bit. Bad installation job," Gannon said and moved past the man only to realise he wasn't quite sure where he'd find a mop or towel.

Kaden coughed as he got a closer look at his master and dragged Gannon into Drex's bathroom where they used his towel to mop up the mess. "His hair is a lot greener than I thought and his face is BLUE!" the boy whispered.

"Sure is," Gannon snickered. "But what's the worst that can happen? Minor prank."

Now that it was done, though, Kaden was having a hard time finding it as funny.

When Drex's refresher was dry, he sent the boys to bed again, this time more firmly than before. He sensed a certain … restlessness, maybe even apprehensiveness, mixed with bouts of hilarity, in them; but he put it to the success of their prank and their insecurity over whether there would be more punishment for this. When he had escorted them back to their room, he went to bed himself, entirely unaware of how peculiar he looked.


	11. Chapter 11

When Drex woke Kaden and Gannon the next morning, they discovered, much to their horror, that things had not improved. In fact, they had gotten a whole lot worse; the dye had not worn off at all. It had developed during the night and Drex was now a more brilliant shade of blue across his face and ears, and his hair was a deep shade of green. He was a hot mess, but there was no way after last night's reaction that either boy was going to say anything.

"Maybe he'll spend the day in here working on that document for the Council," Gannon whispered as the man was gone to use the refresher before breakfast.

"I'm a dead man," Kaden whispered back. "There isn't enough glue to save me." He wasn't entirely sure he was going to go through with that phase of his plan if push came to shove since it was rather risky; he'd have to wait and see how it panned out.

How it panned out was with Drex being called to a Council meeting in the middle of breakfast, leaving two boys silently staring at the man's disappearing form as he left. They were probably lucky that Drex was in too much of a hurry to pay much attention to their reaction to this development.

"Fuck!" they said in unison when the door closed behind Drex.

"Come on. Let's clear the dishes and get out of here before he comes back. We can hide out in the padawans' lounge for a bit while everyone calms down and it blows over a bit," Gannon suggested.

"I'd rather hide out on Hoth…" Kaden dry-washed his face with a hand, then went for the tube of glue.

A moment later he was back at the scene of the crime, Drex's hairbrush in hand. He spread some of the bonding agent across the business side, then stuck a thin piece of kitchen sponge to the innermost section of the backing. Okay, so there was a chance that Drex would notice, but there was also a chance that he wouldn't. He was just rolling up his pant leg to test it on his thigh when Gannon entered.

"That's desperation, dude. If he finds out, you're going to end up neck deep in it," the Kel Dorr warned. Drex might be blind, but the guy wasn't stupid.

"It's a temporary precaution. Obviously, I'll remove it after it's served its purpose. I doubt it will come to this, anyway, he generally reserves it for aggression or lightsaber infractions. Besides, he always has me bring it to him, and I've never once seen him inspect the thing before using it." Kade smacked his thigh as hard as he could. It didn't really hurt at all but the sound was off. That wasn't going to work. Thinking fast, he grabbed Drex's razor and halved the padding. Again he bought it down onto his thigh and this time he winced. That had hurt a lot more, but it was nothing compared to the sharp sting the thing usually imparted. Also, the sound was better. It wasn't pitch perfect, but better, and if he started wailing right off the bat there was a chance that Drex wouldn't notice.

Gannon shook his head as Kaden replaced the brush. He had to admit his friend had balls.

Right after they were finished with the dishes, Kaden subjected their kitchen spoon – the one Drex sometimes used to spank him with for infractions that were not quite serious enough to warrant the hairbrush – to the same spongy treatment. The spoon was smaller and lighter, and unfortunately, the wood was quite porous from years of being submerged in boiling pots, so it took him a bit longer to get the glue to take and the sound right.

"You're screwed if he pulls off his belt," Gannon said through a grin as they left for the padawans' lounge.

"Yeah, not much I can do about that. It's unlikely, though, he doesn't like using it much. I'm just hoping that if he finds out, he doesn't consider it 'exploiting his blindness'. He really doesn't like that."

Gannon adjusted his mask as he sometimes did when he was thinking. Personally, he thought that this was exactly what Kaden was doing here, but if he pulled it off, nobody would be any the wiser; no harm, no foul.

Drex, of course, could not see the incredulous looks on the faces of the Council members as he entered the round Council chamber, but he could sense that something was off about their reaction.

"Do I have egg stuck to the front of my tunic?" he asked politely, acutely remembering a similar occasion, which had admittedly taken place several decades ago. It hadn't happened to him since, but maybe he was getting old?

"Not quite," Mace Windu, who was the first to regain his composure, said. "I realise that this won't mean much to you, but your hair is – well, entirely green. And parts of your skin are blue. Both of which are quite different from your usual colour. I assume someone must have played a prank on you."

It took Drex less than a second to connect the dots. "That," he said grimly, "would be a good guess. Well, no matter. Please ignore my peculiar looks for now. You needed my input?"

Half an hour later, the meeting was concluded and tasks had been distributed. Drex could go and confront his padawan. Who wasn't home and hadn't left a message. Drex called Gannon's master, which led to quite a pleasant conversation about old times that took a decidedly more unpleasant turn when Lyric heard what kind of prank her padawan, presumably, had been part of. True, she was relatively lenient about whoopee cushions and chilli tea-bags, but those were of quite a different order from pranks that exploited someone's blindness and potentially exposed him to embarrassment. If Gannon was indeed part of this, as Drex and Lyric suspected, he was going to have to eat his dinner standing up tonight, and that was only going to be the start of his worries.

As for the other culprit, Drex refused to go hunting for him. If his padawan thought that hiding from him would solve his problems, he had another thing coming. For now, Drex had work to do. He could wait.

And wait was exactly what Kaden intended to do because there was no way he was going home until Drex had had plenty of time to cool off.

The pair had just gotten through inserting some gadgets in the faucets of the girls bathroom and were busy watching the fun unfold, but Kade's heart just wasn't in it. He was going to cop it for turning his master blue, he just knew it, and all the scolding from Gannon to live in the moment was lost on the boy.

Not long after, Gannon received a message from his master to return home immediately. "She didn't say why, it could be anything. Try not to be so cagey. Relax. If I don't comm you within the next hour, then you can start to worry about being busted," the Kel Dor said as he rose gracefully from his seat in the padawans' lounge and left.

When an hour had passed and there was still no word from his friend, Kaden sunk a little more into his seat. He wasn't going home, though, not until he absolutely had to!

As it turned out, lunchtime was as far as the padawan was going to press his luck. Given that he had no word from Drex, he figured he'd take a leaf out of Gannon's book and try to be a little more positive. Maybe, just maybe, the effect of the dye had miraculously worn off? Or his master was too busy to deal with such a minor prank right now? A boy could hope!

When Kade opened the door to find his master seated at the dining room table looking decidedly green and blue, his courage ran the other way and he froze. "Uh!" he cleared his throat. "Hello, master. Gannon and I went to the padawans' lounge for the morning, I figured you would be in the meeting for at least that long." He didn't quite know how to address the giant pink (or in this case blue and green) bantha in the room, so he didn't. He couldn't stop staring, though. Was it possible that the stuff was continuing to develop!? The colours were deepening by the hour!

"Hmm," Drex said noncommittally. "I suppose you had a good laugh at your hilarious shampoo trick, then?"

"Well, no actually," Kaden replied honestly. It had been hysterical in theory, but when Kaden had actually seen his master and consequently discerned the amount of trouble he'd gotten himself into, there had been nothing at all funny about it.

"Which makes it all the more pointless," Drex replied. "I did not mind the faucet prank all that much, but this was definitely over the top. Get me the cooking spoon, please."

Kaden stood there for a minute like a bantha in headlights, just staring. Well, dimwit, what did you expect was going to happen? he silently scolded himself as he moved to obey. He'd done a good job on the spoon, there was no reason this shouldn't work, he thought as he pulled the now padded cooking spoon from their drawer. Be positive, be cool! The handle was quite long and he hoped that Drex didn't decide to use the padded end as a handle. He'd never done so before, so there was no reason he should start now.

Hoping to lessen the chances of his preparations being discovered, the padawan kept hold of the spoon and simply stood in front of his master who was still seated on a dining room chair. "It was just a joke. We didn't mean to cause more than a laugh, I promise," he said morosely, his gaze fixed on the padded spoon in his hands.

"Well, obviously, you didn't intend for me to laugh because you knew perfectly well I would not see the result," Drex replied neutrally. "Which is what makes it a very bad joke."

He pushed the chair back from the table and held out his hand for the spoon.

"Yes, Master, but..." Kade trailed off and blew out a long sigh; arguing wasn't going to get him anywhere. Besides, he felt rather bad about all this now. He placed the long wooden handle into Drex's open palm, moved to stand facing his right thigh and unbuckled his belt and pants. Then, after having bared his bottom, he awkwardly bent across the man's lap. Force, did he hate doing this! It always made him feel like a youngling whenever he was forced to assume this position. Yes, he understood why Drex favoured it, but it felt like a double whammy to him. He sucked it up, though, and as his hands hit the floor, he gritted his teeth and sent a silent prayer to any Gods that might be listening that his master not notice the padded spoon.

Drex did not feel like wasting his time on warm-ups and scoldings today. It was abundantly clear that Kaden and Gannon had exploited his blindness to play a thoughtless prank on him, and one that had the potential to expose him to embarrassment. There was no need to explain this. Consequently, Drex raised the spoon and brought it down onto Kaden's bottom smartly.

Kaden was surprised at feeling the spoon right away. Typically, Drex would bring him to the point of tears before tearing up his ass with his chosen weapon. Padding or none it had still hurt because Drex had one hell of an arm on him. He let out a wail which was very uncharacteristic of him, but he was attempting to cover the slight difference in sound.

Now Drex was starting to become suspicious. It was unlike Kaden to start wailing like this at the first swat, especially since that swat, while firm, had not been excruciating.

"Stop making such a fuss," he said, raising the spoon again. "We have barely started."

He brought the spoon down a second time, now at full force. Or at least that was what he tried to do; something about the impact just wasn't right.

"Stop making a fuss!? Are you joking?" Kaden hissed. As far as he was concerned, having his ass handed to him with the spoon from hell gave him carte blanche to make a fuss. He winced as the spoon connected a second and third time. He could tell that those two had been designed to give him something to wail about, and he didn't disappoint. It still hurt him, just not as much as it usually did; the thin layer was doing its job.

Despite Kaden's efforts at showing an appropriate reaction, Drex was becoming increasingly suspicious. Something was not right about this. Maybe it was because the sound of the impact was slightly off, or because Kaden was not that good an actor, or because Drex had some sense, through their bond, of how much, or little, pain he was feeling; in any case, after the fourth swat, he paused to investigate. Instead of bringing the spoon down onto Kaden's bottom again, he swatted the palm of his left hand. His brows creasing in bewilderment at what he felt, he ran his hand across the business end of the spoon and sighed at what he found.

"Get up, padawan," he said. "This was really not one of your most brilliant ideas. Fetch me the hairbrush."

Kaden scrambled to his feet and immediately righted his clothing so that he didn't fall over while fetching the brush. He turned to obey, but didn't make it more than a few strides when Drex spoke again.

"Or did you, by any chance, do the exact same thing to the hairbrush?" the man asked ominously.

Kaden froze, his back still to his master. His mouth went dry and suddenly he forgot how to swallow. "I might have," he admitted, knowing that his ship was sunk.

At this point, Drex really wasn't sure whether to laugh at the absurdity of this all or become seriously annoyed. He discarded the latter option quickly; he rarely became angry and was not going to start now. Nevertheless, there would have to be repercussions. He briefly thought about using his belt, but he was really not comfortable with using that for more than a few punishment swats. It required a wider range and a better aim than, for example, the hairbrush. Without eyesight, his aim was not good enough and he was not well able to gauge the damage it did unless he focussed intensely, which he did not feel like doing right now.

"I've never known such an accumulation of plans that backfired this spectacularly, Padawan," he said, coming to a decision. "Go to your room. I will see about procuring an appropriate implement. While I'm doing that, you might busy yourself trying to return the hairbrush and the cooking spoon to their original state. If you can't, I will get new ones from the commissary, which will be deducted from your allowance."

When the door had closed behind Kaden, Drex went to the terminal and did something he had never found necessary in his long life until this point: He retrieved the comm code of a shop for spanking implements from the information system. On Coruscant, there were shops for everything, including this one. If Kaden thought he could manipulate the way in which he was punished, he had another thing coming.

The cheerful salesperson who took Drex's call informed him that she was glad to be of service and that they frequently delivered to customers at the Temple. Of course, Drex thought wryly, people like Eeth Koth must get their infamous implements from somewhere.

"I need an implement to punish a twelve-year-old boy," he said. "It should leave about as much of an impression as a large wooden hairbrush would."

"Were you thinking along the lines of a cane or a strap?" the saleswoman asked. "Or rather a paddle?"

"Well, it should be suitable for an over-the-knee spanking," Drex replied; he was quite amused at the absurdity of this conversation at this point. "I'm blind, you know. My aim is not as precise as would be necessary for a caning, for example."

"You could make use of a short strap with split ends," the saleswomen proposed. "Those are specifically designed for an over-the-knee spanking and entirely safe to wield. They're guaranteed to leave a strong impression. Alternatively we have a wide range of small- to medium-sized paddles on offer. I recommend a model with holes in it. Those are particularly effective while not causing any lasting damage."

"I'll take both," Drex said decisively. "Do you have a speed delivery service?"

"Yes, we do," the saleswomen assured him. "For fifteen credits, the implements would be with you within the hour."

"Good," said Drex. Kaden was in for a rather unpleasant surprise, but then, he really should have seen that coming.

Had Kaden been privy to that conversation, he'd have certainly shared his master's thoughts over the absurdity. He'd also have been horrified to learn not only that such a place existed, but also that after three padawans Drex deemed his antics worthy of breaking a lifetime spent sans spanking implements, jumped over his shadow and acquired some!

Of course, Drex had not exactly ordered the implements because he deemed Kaden's antics so much worse than anything his previous apprentices had ever done; they weren't. However, none of them had ever had the "ingenious" idea of tampering with what few spanking implements he possessed, or if they had, they had never had the audacity of acting on it. He thought such a prank needed its own reward.

While Drex made his call, Kaden busied himself doing as Drex instructed. Restoring the hairbrush to its previous glory wasn't exactly easy, but given the glue was meant for use on humanoid skin, it did not take more than a bottle of acetone and some elbow grease to do the trick. Unfortunately, their cooking spoon, which was far more porous, did not fare as well and as a result was tossed aside. A replacement would come out of his allowance which was down to zilch after he'd spent the last of it in the gaming section at Tumaree markets. He was officially in the red!

Having ended the call, Drex prepared two plates of sandwiches and brought Kaden his, together with a glass of water.

"Eat," he told him. "I will call you when it's time for your punishment."

Oh, yay for me, the boy thought. Aloud, however, he said: "What do you mean by that? Why are you making me wait? Is this some sort of new torture you've devised or something? Because if so, you needn't bother, I already feel rotten enough." He placed the cup and plate of sandwiches aside and folded his arms.

"So you should," Drex replied mildly. "And just for your information, I do not usually spend my time devising methods of torture. But since you insisted on putting my usual implements out of use, I had to change my habits somewhat. There will be a couple of new implements, and I am currently waiting for delivery. I assure you, as soon as they are here, I will call you and put you out of your misery. Now eat."

The expression on Kade's face was priceless. "You did what?!" he started but it was too late, and as the door slid shut the boy was left to his own thoughts: a strap? A paddle? Fuck, a CANE? Kaden swallowed and looked at his plate which suddenly had lost its appeal. Nevertheless, he'd been given an instruction and he wasn't about to compound his problems. With this in mind he picked up a sandwich and went through the motions, and it really was just that; he got no satisfaction from the food.

When the last bite was dutifully eaten, he sat on his bed. Thoughts of padding his backside, finding a tube of bacta and the like came to mind, but after this, he doubted trying to further deceive Drex would win him any favours; it was bad enough as it was! With his mind still concocting various horrifying scenarios, Kaden flopped backwards and closed his eyes to release his emotions into the Force because if he didn't, he was going to cry, and Jedi apprentices did not cry!

Drex had lunch himself, all the while listening to reports on his headphones. He had just brought his empty plate into the kitchen when their door chime sounded. He accepted the delivery, paid for it and took the parcel to his room where he opened it and examined the items with his hands. The paddle was thin and made from some kind of wood, smooth, with rounded edges. It was not much larger than his hairbrush, but it had eight holes drilled through it that would doubtlessly increase its sting. The strap was short enough to be wielded safely, twice as broad as his belt, but thinner and split in the middle. The edges were rounded, too, so it would not cut the skin. All in all, Drex thought that he had made a good choice.

He picked up both items, laid them onto the common room table and went to knock on his padawan's door.

"You may come out now," he said.

After forty minutes of meditation the boy was feeling far less angsty although when Drex called him from his bedroom, he suddenly didn't feel so calm. Resisting the urge to reply with, 'that's ok, I'm fine just here….' he took a breath, straightened and palmed open his door.

What he saw, had him stop in his tracks. H looked from the table to Drex with wide eyes. "Should I start referring to you as Eeth?" Kaden questioned, attempting to draw on the many stories he'd heard about Councillor Eeth Koth and on his own personal experience in an effort at disarming the man.

"Oh, I'm sure Eeth has a much more impressive selection," Drex replied, unperturbed. "Including various canes, from what I've heard. This is merely what I have chosen in light of the fact that you saw fit to tamper with my very limited supply of spanking implements."

He pulled out a chair and sat down. "Bare your bottom and bend over," he ordered once again.

The boy blanched, swallowed and reluctantly moved to stand by the man's side. Given that he had already ditched his belt earlier, he reluctantly —and very slowly— slid both trousers and shorts to his knees. He glanced briefly at the paddle, then at the other thing which was too foreign for the boy to name, but looked no less menacing, and put himself across his master's lap. You could cut the tension in the air with a knife because despite the meditation, Kaden's apprehension was beginning to leak.

"Padawan, I don't quite know how you did it, but you managed to exacerbate your troubles spectacularly," Drex said while adjusting Kaden's position to his liking. "Your prank was a bad idea in the first place, though. I'm very lucky not to be scheduled for any kind of official functions this weekend because, little as I appreciate showing up in front of the Council with dyed hair without my knowledge, I would enjoy showing up like that to a Senate reception even less."

He picked up the paddle from the table, raised it and brought it down onto Kaden's bottom sharply. He had no fixed number of strokes in mind; never having used this implement, he was just going to see how things went.

"I know, and I'm sorry!" the padawan blurted as he felt Drex reach for the table, although apparently it was far too little far too late, and despite his best effort to tough this out, he still let out a hiss as that first swat landed. The next few were no less painful. In fact, he found himself gasping for breath and pushing his hips into his master's leg in an effort to create a little more distance between his ass and that paddle which was, in his opinion, just as bad as the brush, if not a little worse. It stung mightily!

Which was exactly what Drex had aimed for, and that was why he continued, at a slow, methodical pace, without ever pausing long enough to allow Kaden's bottom any true relief.

"The next time, don't be sorry afterwards," he said while he spanked. "Think things through before you do it. Even if it's only meant to be a bit of harmless fun. Especially then."

"Ahh'Oow!" Kaden couldn't help it; this hurt. He wriggled, writhed, bucked, yelped and as Drex landed what felt like the hundredth smack, but was more like the tenth, he let out a wail. "I know! STOP, pleeeease!"

Drex was immune to pleading. The times when he had felt bad about meting out punishment were long gone. He wanted Kaden to remember this when next he thought about playing pranks on anyone, be they blind or not. Some pranks were indeed no more than a bit of harmless fun; others were not so funny, and he did not want his padawan to play them mindlessly on other people. If anything, he increased the force behind his swats and he moved them lower down Kaden's bottom.

At the time, Kade had not thought his prank mindless. However, in hindsight: "Ahh!" it felt pretty mindless now. "AHH OWw!, N-No, Oww!" he yelled, but a combination of a guilty conscience and the worst sting he'd felt from a paddle to date were too much and he started to cry softly, gripping hold of the man's trouser leg in an effort to hold himself together.

At this point, Drex put the paddle aside and said grimly: "And now we will get to the ill-advised plan to avoid the consequences of your prank."

He groped for the strap, took it in his right hand and ordered: "Give me your hands."

"WHAT!? No! Wait. I fixed the damned brush and I'll pay for the stupid spoon, don't use that on me," the boy blurted. He knew better than to disobey this order, though. He had done so twice before and both times had landed him extra. Extra was the absolute last thing Kaden wanted right now. Thus, and despite his protesting, he reluctantly moved both hands to rest at the small of his back. He really didn't want to feel that, least of all on an already sore ass, but neither did it look like he was being given a choice.

Drex really had no idea what effect this strap was going to have. The salesperson had assured him that it was an item suitable for children, but one that would be sure to leave an impression. He was just going to base the number of strokes he meted out on Kaden's reaction, same as with the paddle. He raised the strap to shoulder-height and brought it down onto his padawan's bottom firmly.

Drex had no idea, and Kaden didn't want to have an idea! The pain that followed that first smack was, quite literally, like nothing the boy had ever felt. It was like being struck with something halfway between a cane and a strap; it stung like hell but there also was a deep thudding to back it up. It wasn't horribly painful at the moment but Kaden could tell that if his master put much more behind his swing, it would fast become excruciating. So the padawan did what any twelve year-old padawan knowing this would do: he let out a wail in the hopes of keeping the licks to a minimum.

Unfortunately, Drex had a very good sense, through their bond, of what Kaden was actually experiencing and he was fairly confident that, while it was certainly painful, it was nowhere near enough to warrant that wail. Besides, Kaden had already tried deceiving him over the impact of the cooking spoon. Drex really did not want to encourage this kind of thing.

"No crocodile tears, please," he said and administered a swat that would definitely justify wailing over.

"Crocodile tears!? But, AHhhhwwwah!" the boy howled, and this time it was for real. One smack had lifted him and he bucked, kicked and tried to free his hands, all to no avail.

When Kade felt Drex's tunic pull in a way that signaled he was raising his arm again, Kaden thought he was going to die! He tightened up in anticipation, but thankfully it did not land with the same determination. Yes, it fucking hurt like a bastard, but it had not frightened the skin on his ass into an instant welt as the previous one.

Drex continued bringing the strap down in a steady rhythm with little more than the moderate force he had employed in the beginning. He preferred letting the sting build up gradually. If this wasn't enough to reduce Kaden to real tears, he could always up the ante.

Kaden continued to kick and writhe his way through the next few licks until it got to a point where it was coming close to his pain threshold. He didn't want to blubber, though, so the boy did his best to keep his wailing under control. "I've learned, I'VE LEARNED! Please stop," he begged.

Drex did not really care whether his padawan did or did not want to blubber. He wanted this lesson to stick. Therefore, he merely said: "That's good," and continued.

That wasn't the response Kaden had been hoping for. "Master!" He started over, but was cut off mid plea when that strap landed once again. "Ahhhhhh! N-OWWahhhait!" he wailed. The boy buried his face in an effort to muffle his cries. "I'm sorry, IM SORRY!" because apologising was the only thing he could think of to do right now. He couldn't take much more of this, it was torture; not hard enough to render him hysterical, but plenty hard enough to keep him in an agony of suspense.

From Drex's point of view, if Kaden could still hold it together, at least enough to beg and plead with him, the punishment was not quite over. Drex therefore gradually increased the force behind the licks and, just like he had done with the paddle, moved them lower down.

Again, that was not the response Kaden had been hoping for, and as the force increased and far more sensitive areas were being targeted, the padawan began to struggle in earnest. "Waiiittt!" he practically screeched, then when this had no effect, he lay limp and started truly bawling.

At this point, Drex ended the punishment. He put the strap aside and released his hold on Kaden's hands slowly, not wanting to let him fall face-first onto the floor. His padawan's bottom fairly radiated heat. Hopefully, he would think twice before playing such misplaced pranks again.

As far as Kaden was concerned, his prank days were over. Never, ever again. Ever! And he was sniffling as much as his hands came back to rest on the floor and he pushed himself up. "Can. Can I go to my room please?" he managed to get out through hitching breaths. He was clutching his chest, but had his tears under control; the rest was going to take a few minutes and some privacy to cry himself out. He stood, somewhat shakily, and tried to stand tall. Yes, Drex had just reduced him to a blubbering youngling but he was a Jedi padawan, and he would at least manage to stand up straight until he was allowed to leave.

"You may," Drex replied. "Be back here in fifteen minutes." He was silently admiring the effort Kaden made to pull himself together after such an experience. Whether it was indeed the wiser choice, as compared to seeking out comfort, he did not know. While Kaden was in his room, he stowed away the paddle and the strap in the back of a drawer in his room. He was as yet undecided whether they were going to make a repeat appearance.

Wordlessly, the boy nodded and walked stiff-legged towards his bedroom where he proceeded to close the door, fall onto his bed, bury his face into a pillow and cry. Managing his emotions had never come easy to Kaden and this was no exception.

It was exactly fifteen minutes to the second when the door to his bedroom slid open, and a far more in control padawan emerged. He moved to kneel, because sitting was out of the question, and waited for his master to finish with his work and acknowledge him; he had some things to say.

Drex put down his earphones and lowered himself from his chair into a cross-legged position on the floor, opposite his padawan.

"What is it, padawan?" he asked gently, sensing that the boy had something to get off his chest.

"I need to tell you some things." Well, "confess" was probably a more apt description, but the boy was far too focused on getting through this with dignity to care about his wording. "Gannon and I… we may have set up some more pranks in the padawans' lounge. The girls' bathrooms, to be precise."

Kade went on to explain how they had taken it in turns placing the small faucet plugs into each sink, then laughed as one girl after another exited with either wet hair or tunics. It had been hysterical at the time, but now he just felt guilty.

"And that's not all. I can't believe I'm actually ratting out my friend but I really don't want either of us to get into any more trouble. I don't know about him but my ass just isn't cut out for this sort of shit. Gannon is planning to play a prank on Rool. It's a pretty bad one, too. I didn't agree to have any part in this one because, well, maybe I'm just not as brave as he is, but also, I like Master Rool. He was good to me the last time I had a stint in the healers and I don't want to see him catch it any more than I want Gannon to get in trouble for pranking him. Then there is Zeek," the padawan sighed, and scratched at the back of his head for a moment.

"I have to agree that the little twerp is a deserving target, but still..." Kade managed to keep his gaze on the man's sightless eyes through the confession which was quite difficult, given that his ass burned like never before and his conscience was not faring much better.

"I'm sorry that I pranked you, and I won't do anything like that again. Just don't heap any more punishment on me," he concluded, his expression and tone pleading for a leniency he wasn't sure he deserved, let alone would get.

"Thank you for telling me all this, padawan," Drex said kindly, recognising how hard it had been for Kaden to make these confessions. "Believe it or not, I am not going to heap further punishment on you for silly stuff like the faucet plugs. That might have been childish, but it did no serious harm to anyone. That said, I would be glad if you could desist from making it a habit. As for the pranks Gannon is planning, I'm fairly confident that his master will manage to sort this out. To be sure, I will leave her a message. In any case, I can assure you that any attempt at playing tricks on Master Rool will be sure to backfire. Gannon won't know what's hit him. As for your fellow padawans… well, there are harmless and less harmless pranks. I'm not particularly interested in hearing about the first category, but after today, I'm not entirely confident that you are all that good at telling the difference."

Kade wasn't sure how to respond to that, so he didn't. The prank they had planned for Zeek was harmless enough. Besides, what's a little diarrhoea between friends, he thought and grinned ever so slightly at the mental picture. It didn't matter anyway because he wasn't going to do it. Kade had been serious when he'd told his master that he was through with pranks, because a boy he might be, but having to endure another punishment like that was not something he was willing to risk simply for a laugh.

Reaching back to rub at his aching backside, the boy shifted uncomfortably in his kneeling position for what felt like the billionth time that conversation and met the man with a hopeful expression. "If you're done with me, can I go back to my room, please?" He still had some homework to finish, and he had yet to complete his meditation on arrogance and overestimation of his abilities, not that he was planning to do either in the next hour. No, Kade planned to lie on his bed and lick his wounds for a while yet.

"No, padawan, I have the special gym reserved for you, remember?" Drex said. "I'll give you some bacta and half an hour for it to take effect. Then we need to get going. I'll use the time to finish up my report."

Kade remembered. However, he had hoped to get out of being pummelled by a room full of remotes considering he'd just been walloped within an inch of his life. Apparently this was not to be, although hearing that bacta and a half-hour break were on the cards went a ways to bolstering the boy's spirits. "Thanks." This was a short way to express his sentiment, but Kade really meant it.

Half an hour later, he exited his bedroom clad in his most comfortable training uniform and looked wistfully at his lightsaber that still hung from Drex's belt. He wanted it back so badly! But after today, he didn't even bother asking for it and simply slung his bag over his shoulder.

Once in the training room, Drex used a voice-control panel on the wall to arrange the room to his liking. It could be outfitted with any number of crates, bars and ropes in varying degrees of difficulty, both to limit freedom of movement and to create additional options for navigating the room and seeking cover. Drex chose a beginners' setting and handed Kaden his saber.

"Stand on the red dot in the middle," he told him. "When you're ready, a number of stationary and moving droids will start firing at you from all directions. You try to dodge or block all shots. When you're hit, you will feel it, but not painfully so. It will only be a mild tingle and will leave no lasting effect."

The expression on Kade's face was far from exhilarated. Still, he moved to stand on the dot as instructed and did not complain as he ignited his lightsaber and drew a deep breath; he freakin' hated Soresu, but recently he had come to accept that this was what had to happen if he were ever to become a Jedi Knight. Besides, complaining only earned him a date with the bench, and there was no way he was going to risk that.

Sighing, the boy closed his eyes, reached out with the Force and was promptly nailed in the shoulder with a bolt. Yep, this sucked.

Another five minutes passed by and despite having been struck twice more in the first minute, Kade was now holding his own.

After Kaden had adapted to the exercise, Drex changed the setting, forcing his padawan to move around a lot more while obstacles were put in his way that forced him to jump, flip and vault. Soresu could be a very energetic and creative form of combat, despite the hard time many Ataru proponents had believing it.

Individually, the obstacles were sensed and avoided easily enough. However, with the increased focus it took to deflect the mounting number of remotes, it was not so easy. Besides, this was also testing his fitness and stamina, neither of which were stellar although both had improved vastly since being apprenticed to Drex.

Kaden vaulted off a ledge, rolled, then climbed up the wall using hand rungs. This he could do; climbing was one of his favourite pastimes. In fact, during crèche he had spent a lot of his free time scaling trees, much to crèche Master K'Mi's exasperation. He threw a leg over a beam that ran the length of the ceiling and hoisted himself up. From this position he didn't have to worry about bolts coming from above, although it wasn't entirely stable and he wobbled a little with each deflection before deciding it was no less difficult and leapt to the floor.

"Good thinking," Drex called. "The mobile droids would come at you from below if you stayed up there for too long. Keep moving and remember the Soresu techniques we worked on. Try to find some cover."

"That's easy for you to say when you're standing out of range," the boy shot back but there was no venom to his tone. In fact, he was kinda beginning to enjoy the challenge. And a challenge it was!

After an hour of being shot full of holes, if only figuratively, the padawan was finally allowed a break, and for once he was happy to extinguish his weapon. He handed it back to Drex automatically and without argument, then headed for their bag to get a drink of water before they finished with a cool-down.

Drex was pleased with Kaden's performance, and he told him as much.

"You have improved a lot, especially in those areas that needed improvement," he said. "It's been hard work for you, and not very exciting. I appreciate your effort all the more. The skills you have learned during these past months will go a long way towards gaining you mission eligibility."

He smiled at Kaden and clapped him on the back.

"Keep your saber," he said, holding it out to him. "I believe you have suffered enough. And your silly pranks really have no bearing on the reason you lost it. You have been punished enough for them."

Drex's words had the boy pause, and he was still in a state of shock as the man slapped his back and handed him his weapon. Force, he had his saber back! Finally! "Thank you, Master!" he blurted, although as he clipped the weapon to his belt he didn't feel as exhilarated as he had imagined. Yes, his weapon was his life, but understanding fully what that meant was something the padawan had yet to achieve.

* * *

A/N: This is the end of "Patience". Please look out for its sequel which will involve Drex and Kaden leaving for an off-planet mission, together with several other master-padawan teams. Kaden will learn a lot – sometimes with his master's assistance …


End file.
